Hawk's Final Hunt (2nd Edition)
by KaryuEndan
Summary: Two months after the Fourth Ninja World War, Sasuke Uchiha begins his quest of redemption. Along the way he finds himself in command of Taka again as they hunt down the remnants of the Hidden Sound, deal with the fallout of Infinite Tsukiyomi, and discover truths about themselves and their families. Pairings: SasuKarin BroTP, SasuSaku, SuiKarin. Warning: entire manga spoilers.
1. Prologue

"You're leaving already?" Sakura asked. "Lady Tsunade's almost finished creating your prosthetic arm with Lord Hashirama's cells."

Sasuke hesitated for a second before responding. "I… I need to see how the world looks with the eyes I have now. For the longest time my sight's been clouded by hatred, but I think I'll see a clearer picture now. And if I don't leave now, I might not get another chance any time soon."

"What if I… came with you?" Sakura's cheeks flushed as she asked.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "This is a journey to make up for all the wrong that I've done. You aren't a part of that. So I can't let you join me. Sorry."

"Not a part of that, huh?" Sakura lowered her head in disappointment. She then muttered something in a whisper too quiet for Sasuke to hear clearly. As Sasuke approached in curiosity, Sakura raised and then quickly shook her head.

"If I can't join you, then at least let me give you a present before you go."

Sasuke's eyes sprung open, the Uchiha surprised by Sakura's rebuttal. He could now see the resolve in Sakura's eyes matched the steel in her voice. Sasuke deliberated for a moment, unsure how to respond, but he ultimately decided to answer her plea:

"I… can accept a gift. What do you have in mind?"

Suddenly, Sakura raised her right hand to her mouth, bit her thumb, and slammed her hand into the ground in front of her, with a puff of smoke immediately appearing around her hand. _A summoning jutsu?_ Sasuke thought to himself. Just before the smoke cleared, Sakura scooped something out of it with her left hand.

"It's a tiny piece of Lady Katsuyu." Sakura explained as she stretched out her hands towards Sasuke with a small white slug in tow. "I don't know what you're going to be doing out there, but if you ever find yourself in danger, just combine your chakra with hers. Then you can reverse summon me wherever you are, and I can heal you or provide an extra punch if you need it! Cha!"

Sasuke took the Katsuyu fragment and stored her inside his black cloak: "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." He started to turn around, heading away from the Hidden Leaf Village. But as he took his third step, Sasuke turned back around towards Sakura. "Oh right. There's just one more thing I need to do here."

As Sasuke said those words, he raised his right hand - his only hand - up to Sakura's big yet beautiful forehead, and pressed his index and middle fingers on Sakura's Hundred Strengths Seal.

"I'll see you when I get back." Sasuke smiled. At that moment however, he felt something squirming around on his upper back. The annoying sensation forced Sasuke to take his hand off Sakura's head and on to his back in a bid to make it stop, realizing the squirming was coming from Katsuyu. "Maybe sooner than that!" He added.

Sakura blushed and let out a faint giggle. "I'll be looking forward to it!" she said as she waved Sasuke goodbye while he turned around in embarrassment and walked away from the Hidden Leaf at a brisker pace than usual. When Sasuke was no longer within earshot, someone spoke up.

"You took advantage of Sasuke's sense of practicality to get a chance to see him again. Nicely played, Sakura." Kakashi winked, having witnessed the entire exchange from beside Sakura but remained quiet through it all.

"Kakashi-Sensei! That's not why I… Well, that's not the _only_ reason why I did that…" Sakura bowed her head in shame once again and slowly walked back inside the village. Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder and walked back in with her.

"It's okay. How about we go find Naruto and we can all have some ramen to celebrate Sasuke's return to the village? My treat."

"It wouldn't feel right without Sasuke-kun. Let's invite him when he gets back. Then all four of us can eat together."

[X-X-X]

Once Sakura and Kakashi were out of Sasuke's range of vision, he slowed his pace and began to think. _Sakura… Thank you, but I'm sorry. I appreciate the present you gave me, I really do. But for your sake as well as mine, I hope the moment I need to use it never comes._

And with that solemn thought in his heart, Sasuke set off on his second journey around the Shinobi World.


	2. Chapter 1: Start of the Journey

It had only been two days and a half since Sasuke left the Hidden Leaf Village for the second time. His legs sore from the constant walking, Sasuke sat down next to a tree on the side of the path to his right for a brief rest, still facing the path so he could see if by chance someone were to pass by.

Despite the purpose for his pilgrimage, there was no concrete goal Sasuke had in mind, no location he thought of visiting first. Sasuke had merely been travelling in the same direction he'd left the Hidden Leaf Village in, hoping to run into something, but to no avail.

That was about to change.

"Sasuke!" Two voices shouted in unison. Both voices were fairly high-pitched, one more-so than the other. Sasuke could figure that they were coming from his right - farther away from the Hidden Leaf than he was - but on first glance, he had no idea who could be calling out to him. Sasuke stood up and turned his head, expecting to see who or what was calling him.

What he saw were two small cats dressed in light kimonos, one blue and one pink. They were running toward him at speeds that anyone with normal eyes would have difficulty keeping track of. Fortunately for Sasuke, his Sharingan let him see the two felines clearly.

"Denka? Hina?"

Sasuke recognized the two cats and called out to them in turn. They were Ninneko, cats trained to use ninjutsu, the source of their incredible speed. These two in particular were the pets and bodyguards for Nekobaa and her granddaughter Tamaki, friends of the Uchiha clan that Sasuke visited for supplies before hunting down Itachi around half a year ago. As Denka and Hina approached Sasuke, he thought the sight of them without their owners was very strange. Coupled with their panicked expressions, Sasuke could come to only one conclusion about the event:

"Did something bad happen to Nekobaa or Tamaki?"

"Master Tamaki was kidnapped!" said Hina, the one in pink.

Sasuke was shocked. "Do… do you know where Tamaki was taken!?" Sasuke tried to remain calm under pressure as Shinobi Rule Number 25 dictates, but his tone of voice betrayed the anger and desperation he was beginning to feel.

"We managed to track her down! Follow us!" Both yelled at once and turned around, ready to take off.

"Lead the way!" Sasuke said as he followed the cats, determined to save Tamaki.

[X-X-X]

Several minutes later, Denka and Hina led Sasuke to their destination: a small abandoned shack in the centre of a clearing, concealed from the main path by the forest. The only entrance was a rusty door and there were no windows. Sasuke very slowly checked the knob on the right side of the door and realized it wasn't locked. _Unlocked? Either Tamaki was taken away again, or for some reason the kidnapper wants to be intruded on…_ Sasuke thought. He then whispered to the cats, "Can you smell Tamaki in there?"

"Yes." Denka, the one in blue and with the marginally deeper voice, replied quietly.

 _Kidnapper wanted to be found then. If I go in, I'll probably fall into a trap. But I have to save Tamaki, and there's no other way in. Guess there's no choice but to challenge them head on._ Sasuke reasoned.

"Stand back." He told the cats. They complied, inching away while facing the door. In order to keep his hand free to deal with any potential traps, and not risk destroying the entire shack and Tamaki along with it with Susano'o, Sasuke decided to open the door by kicking it down. After taking a second to focus his chakra in his right foot, he raised his right leg and smashed his foot against the side of the door the knob was on. The force was enough to swing the door wide open. _It's no match for what Sakura can do, but it did the trick well enough._

To Sasuke's surprise, there were no traps. The light outside illuminated the room, and because of it, Sasuke could clearly see Tamaki being held with a kunai at her neck by a larger hooded figure with particularly broad shoulders. "Let Tamaki go!" Sasuke demanded, with his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw.

"Sure thing. She's not who I'm interested in anyway!"

With those words, the kidnapper pushed Tamaki to the floor and leaped toward Sasuke with the kunai he was already holding. Sasuke drew his sword and in one motion parried the kidnapper's blow, knocking the kunai out of their hand in the process. The impact of kunai on Kusanagi Blade also forced the kidnapper's hood off, revealing a bald man with stitches on his head and Sharingan in his eyes.

"Why do you have those eyes?" Sasuke asked as he approached the bald man for a counterattack.

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that my revenge is finally at hand!" screamed the man as he kicked Sasuke away before he could land a blow. Suddenly, the man formed several hand seals.

" _ **Wood Style: Killing Spear!**_ " The man shouted, producing a pointed log from his torso and firing it squarely at Sasuke.

 _Sharingan and Wood Style!? This is just like…_ Despite being distracted by the man's surprising use of Wood Style, Sasuke managed to avoid being hit in any internal organs, but the spear punctured his cloak near his left shoulder, pinning him to a wall.

"You may have escaped your fate this time, but you've only delayed the inevitable! You will suffer for Lord Itachi's death! There's nowhere to run! Die!" The man screamed as he looked towards Sasuke and prepared to use his jutsu again.

"I don't know how you know Big Brother, but it's clear you don't understand anything." a cold voice spoke to the man from behind him. The man was shaken and took another glance at the wall; the only thing pinned to it was a black cloak. Then he heard the sound of a piece of metal drop to the floor from underneath the cloak. Fear began to sink into the man's heart. He turned his head around to see Sasuke holding his sword up to the man's throat and his dropped kunai nowhere to be found.

"Hatred can do a lot to cloud a person's vision. You were so intent on seeing me dead that you failed to realize that I already escaped by using the Substitution Jutsu on that kunai you dropped. An Academy-level trick, really." The man froze with terror upon hearing Sasuke's words.

"You have one chance. If you stop attacking innocent people and give up on your revenge, I'll let you live. I might even teach you how to use those eyes of yours."

"You want me to… _forgive_ you for what you did to Lord Itachi?! That's absurd! I will never, ever stop hating you! Spare me your pity and your mercy; I don't need either!" The man tried to get away from Sasuke, but his body wouldn't listen to his mind.

"That's too bad. I'm sorry this is how it has to end."

Disappointed in his enemy's choice, Sasuke cut off the man's head with one fell swoop. In his final moments of consciousness, the kidnapper saw Sasuke walk away to check on the red-clad brunette he used to lure Sasuke in. _The predator was paralyzed by the prey… How pathetic…_ was the last thought the man had before his eyes closed forever.


	3. Chapter 2: Susano'o Soars

As Sasuke walked over to Tamaki, he kept his sword at the ready, expecting the battle with the man he just beheaded to continue. _The kidnapper had similar abilities to Danzo. I need to stay on guard, just in case he uses Izanagi…_ Sasuke thought. When he finally reached Tamaki, he made sure he was facing the kidnapper's headless body as he helped her up. He noticed Tamaki had several bruises on her arms, and he could also see hand marks where the kidnapper was grabbing her. Tamaki had been lying down, passed out from the fall the kidnapper pushed her into.

She started waking up. "Are you okay?" Sasuke asked.

"… Sasuke? So you came." said Tamaki, still half-asleep.

" _So I came?_ I thought it was only a coincidence Denka and Hina ran into me. But it seems like you were expecting it."

"I was…" Tamaki pointed to the kidnapper. "I was taking some supplies to the Leaf Village to help with its reconstruction, but that guy used his wood to destroy my cargo. Then he captured me and brought me here. Denka and Hina tried to stop him, but…" Tamaki suddenly stopped; her vision recovered to the point she could clearly see Sasuke's condition.

"Your arm!" Tamaki screeched. "Did you lose it trying to rescue me!?"

"No. I lost my arm in an earlier fight. Enough about me; what happened next?"

"Right… Denka and Hina tried to stop the guy, but he was able to see through their movements and dodge all their attacks."

 _He had the Sharingan. No surprise there._ Sasuke thought.

"So the guy gave Denka and Hina an ultimatum: sniff you out and bring you here in one day, or he'd kill me in front of them! Denka and Hina didn't want to submit to his demands, but I ordered them to comply."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because I knew you were willing and able to save me." At that moment, Tamaki looked up into Sasuke's eyes with a coy smile on her face.

"Sorry Tamaki." Sasuke objected. "I'm already taken."

"Phooey." Tamaki looked away from Sasuke and toward the kidnapper's body. "In any case, we're free, right?"

"Maybe". Sasuke's expression turned grim.

"Maybe? But you decapitated the guy! He's dead as a doornail!"

"I fought someone with the same kind of abilities once: combination of Wood Style and Sharingan. And they could use a certain jutsu to cheat death. For a limited time any injury inflicted on them becomes an illusion. I had to kill that opponent six times before it finally stuck."

"Something that powerful has to have a cost, right?" Tamaki asked, shivering in bewilderment.

"Yeah." Sasuke pointed at his own right eye. "You need to permanently give up one Sharingan for every use. That opponent had a bunch of Sharingan put on their arm just so they could use it without going blind."

"How long does it last?" Tamaki wondered, afraid the kidnapper would come back to life any second.

"From my experience, no more than a few minutes. But I've heard that the duration can be longer if the caster is exceptionally strong. I don't think we need to worry about that though, seeing how easily I took him down the first time."

Sasuke kept his eyes on the kidnapper's severed head and his hand on the hilt of his sword. "If he's coming back at all, it has to be pretty soon."

So Sasuke and Tamaki waited for roughly one minute, their nerves wracking with anticipation of their slain aggressor coming back.

Nothing happened.

"That should be long enough." Sasuke eased his grip on his sword. "We're safe now."

Tamaki took a deep breath, relieved that the threat was finally over. Sasuke and Tamaki stood up, heading for the door, when suddenly…

"Sasuke! Master Tamaki! We have trouble!" Hina rushed inside.

"The same scent as the kidnapper is coming here from all directions at once!" Denka followed.

"I'll go check things outside. Denka, Hina, stay with Tamaki in here. And don't come out until I say so." Sasuke commanded.

"Will do!" Both cats rushed to Tamaki's side as Sasuke walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Once he was outside Sasuke saw that, despite having the same scent as the kidnapper, all the surrounding opponents looked different from the bald man… and they all looked identical to each other. _Shadow Clones? Wood Clones? In any case I need to see just what kind of numbers I'm up against._

" _ **Susano'o!**_ " Sasuke yelled. As if on cue, a deep purple energy flared out from within Sasuke, taking the form of a colossal tengu in samurai attire with Sasuke inside its forehead. It was large enough that its foot could almost cover the width of the shack he was just in. Susano'o flew into the sky so Sasuke could get a bird's eye view of the surroundings. He could see dozens of the same green-haired individual with white robes on and ninja tools drawn for an attack. _They're very good at hiding their original. So that means I have to take them all out at once!_

As Sasuke finished his thought, the enemies on the ground all looked up at him and threw their weapons at Susano'o, but the weapons all bounced off the structure, unable to penetrate it. Once the barrage of weapons concluded, Sasuke looked down on the surrounding area and uttered one word to end the battle:

" _ **Amaterasu!**_ "

In that moment Sasuke's left eye, the Rinnegan, started to bleed. The entire surrounding area was covered in black flames, save for the shack Tamaki and the Ninneko were in, which Sasuke carefully avoided. All the opponents burned simultaneously, and when Sasuke was sure the original had died, he put the flames out. He saw that there were no clones vanishing in a puff of smoke like he'd expected… and instead, he saw dozens of burnt corpses, possibly over a hundred.

 _Oh god. They were all original…_

Sasuke realized in horror what he just did, and in that moment, Susano'o petered out and Sasuke began plummeting.

 _I thought I could hold it for longer than that!_

As Sasuke fell, he realized that his life was in danger. On instinct he clutched the piece of Katsuyu on his back. He thought back to Sakura's last words before he left, but then doubled back:

 _If I summon her now, then she'll just end up falling with me and dying too! I can't let that happen! I need to come out of this alive without her!_

Determined to survive, Sasuke spun himself around so that he could see the ground. He then bit on his thumb and thrust his hand as far away from the rest of his body as possible. A giant puff of smoke appeared underneath him, and from out of it came a hawk big enough to carry four people, wearing a saddle to accommodate such. Sasuke landed on the pilot seat, grabbed the reins, and had the hawk slowly take him to the ground.

Sasuke got off the giant hawk and patted it on the head. "Good job." he said to the bird as it disappeared the same way it came in. Sasuke then headed for the door to the shack but noticed, to his surprise and relief, that he missed one of his Amaterasu targets. They were coming closer, but they were shivering and had their hands in the air as a sign of surrender.

"Please don't kill me…" The green-haired youth said.

"I won't. You don't pose a threat all on your own. And it's clear you aren't going to fight me anymore. Where's your home?"

"I don't have one…"

Sasuke placed his hand on the boy's left shoulder and smiled:

"I think I can provide you one. There's a place I know that will take you in."

Sasuke led the boy to the shack and opened the door. "It's safe now."

"But that boy has the same scent!" Denka and Hina shouted in unison.

"He's not a threat. He's a sad, scared child that needs a place to stay. Tamaki, do you think Nekobaa would mind having another grandchild?" Sasuke asked, looking down to the boy.

"You know, with just the Ninneko and me to keep her company, I bet Grandma gets lonely whenever I need to leave for work. I think she'd love having someone else around."

Tamaki faced the boy with a smile. "If you're going to be my little brother from now on, we need to introduce each other. My name is Tamaki! What's yours?"

The boy reached out for Tamaki's hand and shook it. "My name is… Shin. Nice to meet you…"

"Nice to meet you too, Shin!" Tamaki pulled Shin out of Sasuke's hand and into her arms, hugging him. Shin happened to be just short enough that in Tamaki's embrace, his head was being snuggled by her breasts. Sasuke had to look away.

"When do we get to meet Grandma?" Shin asked, looking up toward his new big sister's face.

"We have to finish our errand at the Hidden Leaf Village first. Then we'll go home and meet Grandma after that. You okay with that, Shin?"

"Yes…"

"Bye Sasuke!" Tamaki promptly took Shin with her out the door with Denka and Hina right behind her.

"Before you go…" Sasuke's words stopped Tamaki and Shin in their tracks. "If you're still going to the Hidden Leaf, tell Sakura I said hi while you're there."

"That's fine but…" Tamaki hesitated a little before asking her question:

"…who is Sakura again?"

Sasuke pressed his palm against his own face in bewilderment.

"She used to be my teammate. And now… she's the love of my life. When I told you I was taken, I was referring to her." Sasuke revealed to Tamaki, who started grinning while trying to imagine what Sakura would look like.

"How will I recognize her?" Tamaki asked.

"She has pink hair and a huge forehead."

Sasuke's description destroyed Tamaki's imagination and she couldn't help but laugh.

[X-X-X]

Sasuke watched Tamaki, Shin, and the Ninneko walk towards the Hidden Leaf Village. With the sun beginning to set, he waved goodbye. Then he turned back around, toward the shack, with one thought on his mind:

 _There's not much time before nightfall. I need to get a closer look at the kidnapper before it gets dark._


	4. Chapter 3: Karin

As quickly as he could, Sasuke dragged the kidnapper's corpse outside the shack into the light of the setting sun to get a better look at him. Curious about what the man's body had hidden Sasuke, however uncomfortably, removed the man's hooded cloak, the gray shirt underneath, and the black pants he was wearing, leaving only the undergarments.

What Sasuke found was that the man did not only have Sharingan in his head, but Sharingan all over his body except for his right arm, which was sown on to the rest of his body at the collarbone. He also found that the reason the man's shoulders appeared so broad was because both shoulders had the First Hokage's face protruding from them. _He's even more like Danzo than I thought. It's almost like he and Danzo were involved in the same experiment…_

Sasuke suddenly realized who was responsible for making the kidnapper the way he was.

 _Orochimaru! If I'm going to learn more about this man, then I have to find Orochimaru! But I have no idea where he is…_

He now had an objective in mind, but ironically, was at a loss as to where that objective was. _I guess I'll have to check all his former hideouts one by one for any traces of him…_ Sasuke thought as he decided to head north to the Land of Sound, where Orochimaru's closest hideout would be. However, something stopped him before he could even make his first step.

"Sasukeeeee!" a shrill voice shouted from behind him. Sasuke could recognize it instantly, and a chill went down his spine.

" _Sasukeeeee!_ " the voice repeated as it became closer. Sasuke slowly turned around in abject fear of what was assuredly right behind him by now.

It was exactly who Sasuke expected, and both the best and worst person to meet in the situation he found himself in.

"Karin?" Sasuke's Rinnegan started to twitch.

Karin was an enigma to Sasuke, despite having spent a lot of time together as part of the team Sasuke created for the sake of hunting down Itachi: Taka, formerly known as Hebi. Half the time, she would worship the ground Sasuke walked on, and the other half, she would hate Sasuke's guts. And Sasuke couldn't figure out, or didn't care to figure out, just why that was. While Sasuke did not return whatever feelings Karin had for him, Karin did stand out from other girls he's met nonetheless, if only because Karin was undeniably the _strangest_ girl that Sasuke has ever met.

"I felt your chakra getting intense and I came as fast as I could! But it seems like the battle's already over. _Awww…_ " Karin said.

"I thought Leaf Ninja found you after the war ended and imprisoned you again."

Karin crossed her arms and gave Sasuke a cold stare. "You're not the only one with a _get out of jail free card_ , idiot! Since you were pardoned for your crimes, and I was only locked up for my association to you, it's only logical _I_ get to go free if _you_ get to go free! I was expecting us to _rot in prison_ together… but this is even better!"

Karin's expression shifted to pure ecstasy. "Can you believe the Hokage himself actually came to my cell to give me the news!?"

"Yeah. He informed me of my pardon too."

Karin's mood swung yet again, this time to irritation. "What he _didn't_ tell me was that you left before you even got your arm replaced… I had to find that out myself by scouting the _whole village_ for your chakra and not finding any of it!"

Without warning, Karin unfolded her arms and rubbed her forearms all over Sasuke's chest: "But now… I've finally found you!"

"Please stop touching me."

Karin let go immediately and stood back farther than arm's length.

"Thank you. Now why did you want to find me so badly?" Sasuke asked, stepping back so his arm was between Karin and the rest of his body, just in case she pounced on him again.

"I wanted to show you something amazing!" Karin placed her hands on her hips and puffed up her chest. "During the war I sensed you were dying and I tried running to your rescue, but a big wooden golem was in the way! Even the Third Hokage was having trouble with it, but I destroyed that monster! And I did it with these!"

Karin back-flipped several feet away to put some distance between Sasuke and herself, then she stretched out her arms and thrust her abdomen toward Sasuke.

"Chains, go!" Karin shouted, expecting something to come out of her belly.

But nothing did.

"Are you… feeling well, Karin?" Sasuke asked.

"They came out during the war, really! I just… dammit! Why can't I pull them out now?! I thought that if you saw them you'd fall in love with me for sure…"

Karin was beginning to pull her hair out in frustration. While Sasuke wasn't sure if he believed Karin's story, he could tell that Karin was definitely hurt and needed help; he knew all too well the pain of not being as strong as one thought they were. So Sasuke decided to try cheering her up.

"Karin." Sasuke placed his hand on top of Karin's head and looked her in the eyes. Karin stopped pulling her hair out and eyed Sasuke in turn.

"You don't have to prove anything to me. There's no sensor in the world better than you, so you're amazing the way you already are."

Karin's whole face turned red in response to Sasuke's comforting words. She could also tell from her sensing ability that Sasuke was being sincere. Their eyes remained locked for a brief second, but Karin suddenly crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and turned her head in disgust.

"Being amazing didn't stop you from gutting me with a spear made of lightning when I was taken hostage. Hmph!"

Sasuke removed his hand and looked away. "You're… still holding a grudge?" He asked more out of confusion than anything, since he'd already apologized for it and Karin seemed to forgive him afterwards. Now, however, it seemed like that apology wasn't quite enough to fully dissuade Karin's anger.

Sasuke couldn't blame her for changing her mind.

Karin opened one eye and noticed Sasuke's remorseful posture. "Maybe just a _tiny_ one…"

"Anyway… I could actually use your help with something."

Karin jumped for joy. "Really!? What is it!?"

"I need to find Orochimaru. There are a lot of questions I need to ask him about… that guy." Sasuke pointed at the headless, near-naked dead man just behind him. Karin's gaze followed Sasuke's hand.

"He looks an awful lot like Danzo… oh god, _Danzo…_ " Karin started crying. _That was careless of me…_ Sasuke thought.

"If it helps any, I managed to save the girl that man kidnapped without hurting her in the process." Sasuke explained, hoping to ensure Karin that today's events weren't simply a repeat of that horrible affair. Karin took off her glasses to dry her tears, relieved.

"At any rate, I came to the same conclusion you did. And I know Danzo had ties with Orochimaru, so Orochimaru probably knows about this man too." Sasuke said.

"Why do you even care about him?"

"He said stuff about wanting to take revenge on me for killing Big Brother. But as far as I could tell, neither Itachi nor I had ever seen him before. I really want to know why. And on top of that, an innocent woman got kidnapped because of actions I did in the past. So I have the responsibility of learning the whole truth behind what's going on."

"Okay then, Sasuke. I'll help you out. Lord Orochimaru shouldn't take any time at all to find!"

Karin closed her eyes and formed a hand seal, concentrating on finding Orochimaru's chakra with her _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique. In only a few seconds, she managed to find him.

"Lord Orochimaru's about 10 kilometres north-east! Let's go!" Karin started dashing in that direction. Sasuke followed her.

[X-X-X]

It was now well into the night and Sasuke and Karin were hopping through the forest on their way to finding Orochimaru. However, both of them were getting sleepy and decided to stop for the night and set up camp, deciding to resume their chase the following morning. Unfortunately, Sasuke had only packed one bedroll for his travels, since he expected to be travelling alone. He decided to let Karin sleep in the bedroll he packed for himself, while he would sleep propped up next to a nearby tree. He thought it was the least he could do to make up for how badly he treated her during their time as part of Taka.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Karin asked, just about ready to take off her glasses and go to sleep.

"What is it, Karin?"

"You've been _really_ nice to me today… A lot nicer than you used to be. Comforting me about my chains not working, giving me your bedroll to sleep in… What's going on? You never cared about me this much before… Have you… fallen in love with me?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No. I'm in love with someone else."

"Then you're just bribing me with affection so I don't leave your sorry ass over trying to kill me."

"That's not it either…"

"Then what the fuck is it? Answer me now or I quit being your sidekick forever." Karin turned herself away from Sasuke.

"The truth is… I have to apologize to you again. But not about betraying and trying to kill you. Anything I say about that is just empty words at this point. No, what I'm sorry for this time is never trying to understand you."

"What do you mean by that?" Karin asked, hiding her intrigued expression under the covers.

"What I mean is that when I first formed Taka, back when we were calling it Hebi, I had no interest in making any more bonds. I only cared about your abilities, not the person that was using them. Same thing with Suigetsu and Jugo. All three of you were nothing more than tools to me and for all you did for me, I should have treated you better than that."

"Hold on! During our fight with the Eight-Tails, you saved us by using Amaterasu for the first time. And you put out the flames to save me. You had to care about us then!"

"Did I?"

Karin froze.

"I remember that day." Sasuke continued. "When all of you were in danger, right before I used Amaterasu, I wasn't reflecting on how our team had gotten closer together; I was reflecting on my _old_ team, Team Seven. Thinking back on it now, I don't think I saved our team because of any new bonds, but because of how similar you were to my old ones. So I'm not sure I cared about you for _you_ at that time…"

"Oh… Then I suppose that abandoning Suigetsu and Jugo to the samurai and sacrificing me to get at Danzo was only natural… If you thought of us as tools, then it was only a matter of time before you threw us away…"

"I think you're right about that… And that's something I want to change about myself. For the longest time I thought bonds were something that held you back, but I learned in the war that I was wrong. The bonds I had with Team Seven were the only things keeping me from losing myself completely to the darkness, and making up with them was literally the key to saving the world. And while I was in that darkness, I ended up overlooking three people that wanted a bond with me. And you're one of them."

Karin turned back around to face Sasuke. "So you want to form a 'bond' with me for real now?" Karin asked with a faint blush.

"Yes. I guarantee our bond won't be romantic, but still, I want to really get to know you. And if it's okay with you… I'd like for us to become friends."

"Oh. _Friends._ " Karin looked up at the stars, contemplating the word.

"It'll take some time, but I think I can accept anything that makes you happy."

Karin answered in a mood that Sasuke had never seen from her before. It wasn't blind worship, bitter rage, utter excitement, despair, or an attempt at flirting. She was calm and relaxed, as if a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Good night, Karin. And thank you." Sasuke said as he lowered his head and closed his eyes, smiling as he nodded off.

"Good night, Sasuke." Karin said as she took her glasses off and went to sleep.


	5. Chapter 4: Snake in the Grass

When Sasuke and Karin woke up the next morning, the first thing they did was check if Orochimaru's chakra had moved when they were asleep. Fortunately, Orochimaru had not moved far from his original location; in fact, he was a little closer to them than the night before. Sasuke quickly repacked his bedroll and the two continued their pursuit. It took roughly one hour for Sasuke and Karin to have Orochimaru in their line of sight, and when they did, they saw him open a steel trapdoor hidden beneath the grass near his feet, and walk down the stairs the trapdoor covered.

"Lord Orochimaru didn't have a hideout here…" Karin whispered to Sasuke.

"Maybe it's new." Sasuke whispered back. "The world at large knows where all his old ones are by now. He might have thought it was safer to abandon them and start from scratch…"

"Well let's follow him!"

"No, he's expecting that. Look, he left the door open. He wouldn't do that if he thought he was alone. So he already knows we're here. Instead, we should wait it out and let him come outside. If a fight breaks out I'd rather be out here where he doesn't have home field advantage."

"Umm… there's a problem with that plan." Karin said as her face went pale.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"I think Karin-chan there was going to say, 'his chakra is right behind us'. Am I right?" a wispy and high-pitched, but still definitively masculine voice said from behind them. Sasuke and Karin turned around in unison to find Orochimaru standing one tree branch away, waving hello.

Sasuke was confused. "How did you get behind us? We saw you enter your new hideout and you were in front of us then."

"My hideout has five entrances. The one you saw…" Orochimaru jumped down from the branch he was standing on to point out a patch of grass next to it. He removed what turned out to be a patch of fake turf to reveal another trapdoor.

"… and this one here. And three more surrounding the first one. I designed it this way specifically so I could get the drop on anyone trying to hunt me down."

Orochimaru then slithered up to Sasuke and Karin's branch. "As you little birds helped me demonstrate, if I notice I'm being followed, I can enter through the middle, double back to the entrance behind my pursuer, and take them out while they're wondering what to do next. The only reason the two of you aren't dead is because I happen to like you." Orochimaru concluded with a wink. "Anyway, it seems Karin-chan's scheme worked after all…"

"Scheme?" Sasuke asked.

"When Infinite Tsukiyomi ended, Karin-chan ran straight for the nearest Leaf ninja she could find and turned herself in as an accomplice to your crimes! But instead of a guilty conscience, I believe she only did such a thing for one reason: to reunite with you, Sasuke-kun. And reunite with you she did! Bravo!" Orochimaru clapped in celebration.

"Is that true, Karin?"

"I… well… yeah, it's true. You don't think… _poorly_ of me for it, do you?" Karin asked as she held her hands behind her back and turned her head away, still looking at Sasuke all the same.

"I don't appreciate such a selfish abuse of the law." Sasuke reprimanded. Karin looked down in disappointment.

"However…" Sasuke continued, Karin looking back up. "It shows that you have devotion, and that's something I can respect."

As Sasuke finished, Karin straightened herself out and furrowed her brow:

"Well you're certainly more forgiving than I am! It'll take more than that to win my hand in friendship!"

Orochimaru was bewildered. "Friendship? Hah! I think you mean _marriage!_ Sasuke and Karin, standing in a tree! F-U-C-K-I-N-"

"Shut up." Sasuke interrupted. "What I want with Karin is none of your business."

"Then what, pray tell, _is_ my business? Why have you come to see me, if _not_ to tell me you finally tied the knot and decided to produce the most powerful offspring in the world?"

 _Genetic potential. Figures._ Sasuke thought. "I have some questions to ask you about a man I fought yesterday."

Orochimaru's eyes widened in curiosity.

"I fought someone with Wood Style and was covered head to toe in Sharingan." Sasuke explained. "He didn't use Izanagi, but I still thought he resembled Danzo. Karin thought the same thing when I showed her the body. We figured that you would know how Danzo and this man were related."

"I think I know who that man was. His name was Shin, one of my experiments."

"Shin? But Shin's the name of the green-haired kid I fought right after! The one that survived anyway…" Sasuke objected.

"It figures. Those children were clones of Shin and were never properly named." Orochimaru revealed.

"Clones? But they were all original. I saw all the burned corpses after I killed them…" Sasuke countered, his head wracked with regret. Karin looked at Sasuke with worry.

"That was part of the experiment. Once upon a time I decided to try improving the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Rather than simply having the clones fade away after one hit, I wanted to give the clones the same durability and longevity as the original, just without the annoyance of ageing. If I was successful, I could have cloned myself and took over one of my clones' bodies! Then I wouldn't need to take over another body again!"

"What was the problem? It's clear you haven't done it to yourself." Karin replied.

"What I ultimately called it, the _Shin Shadow Clone Jutsu_ , requires not just evenly dividing your chakra among the clones, but evenly dividing your _cells_ as well."

Sasuke and Karin stumbled back in horror, only staying on the tree branch because they'd stuck to it through their chakra already.

"Obviously, this means the clones are faulty and need spare body parts. _**Lots**_ of spare body parts. The only ones who can use it without killing themselves are ones that can accept all forms of foreign DNA, so that the missing parts can be easily replaced. That's where Shin came in; his body had the unique ability to accept all DNA. Those green-haired children you killed had the form Shin did when he used the _Shin Shadow Clone Jutsu._ "

"So in a way, Shin was the green-headed boys' father, and they came after me to avenge him…" Sasuke concluded.

"Why didn't you just take _Shin's_ body then, if he could use the jutsu?" Karin asked.

Orochimaru was blunt: "Because the experiment made him too weak. If I had done so, I wouldn't have stood a chance against Sarutobi-Sensei. I barely escaped with my life as is…"

"That still doesn't explain his connection to Danzo." Sasuke said.

"Oh yes. On to that! While the Shin Shadow Clone Jutsu project was a failure, Shin's ability was still useful so I kept him around. Sometime after the destruction of your clan, Sasuke-kun, a Root agent arrives at my base and tells me Danzo wants an experiment done. To my surprise, he came with Shisui Uchiha's missing right arm and a boatload of Sharingan! He told me Danzo wanted to strike a deal: Danzo gets Shisui's arm injected with Lord Hashirama's DNA and a few Sharingan, and I get to keep all the other Sharingan! Naturally, I accepted. But the experiment hit a rough patch."

"Let me guess… Shisui's arm didn't fully accept the First's DNA and you needed Shin to complete Danzo's request." Sasuke deduced.

"Exactly! Smart as ever!" Orochimaru exclaimed. "When I had Kabuto inform Danzo of the contingency plan, Danzo replied that he wanted to be there in person for the surgery. So on the day in question, I had Kabuto inject Shin with Shisui's _and_ Lord Hashirama's DNA, remove the right arm from Shin's body, place several Sharingan in it, and attach it to Danzo. Following that, Shisui's actual right arm was attached to Shin. Furthermore…"

"There's more?" Karin interrupted.

"Furthermore," Orochimaru resumed, "when Danzo and Shin were in the operating room together, Danzo told Shin about Itachi and how his clan was destroyed. This caused Shin to begin worshipping Itachi as a god in human form."

"And thus his hatred towards me for killing him." Sasuke concluded.

Orochimaru was not finished, however.

"Coincidentally, I transplanted the first two Sharingan I received into Shin's eyes, hoping that combining Lord Hashirama's DNA and the Sharingan would result in Shin being able to use Izanagi, like Danzo most definitely requested the experiment to acquire in the first place. But even with Shisui's Uchiha DNA boosting him, he couldn't do it. I decided to place my remaining Sharingan all over his body because I had no more use for them. Shin's failure convinced me that I needed a genuine Uchiha to use the Sharingan at their fullest potential…" Orochimaru concluded with a grin.

"So… _**Shin being a weak piece of shit**_ is the whole reason you went after Sasuke?!" Karin shouted.

"That's not quite true, my dear." Orochimaru shook his head. "…I went after Itachi first…"

"Moving on…" Sasuke said. "Why was he only acting just yesterday? Certainly he could have tried to stop me from killing Big Brother while I was training with you. All I talked about then was killing Itachi. He would have picked up on it if we were ever in the same hideout!"

"You never _were_ in the same hideout." Orochimaru explained. "I was grooming you to become my next body. Shin meeting you was a risk I couldn't afford, so I made sure you two were always in different places. Of course, you going to most of my hideouts in rapid succession when forming your team might have led to you crossing paths…"

"Come to think of it, Shin _did_ know that Tamaki and I knew each other, even though the only time we met after my clan's destruction was that one time I went there to stock up on supplies before hunting Itachi…" Sasuke inferred.

"But that means… Shin was spying on our meeting with her!" Karin realized.

"That has to be it! My movements were fairly erratic between then and the end of the war, so I would have been difficult to track. Shin probably lost my trail along the way, heard of Itachi's death second-hand, and never learned the full truth." Sasuke added.

Orochimaru smiled. "Now you've learned everything behind what happened to you yesterday. What will you do now, Sasuke-kun?"

"If Shin was released into the world from my actions in forming Hebi, there could be other dangerous people I unwittingly let loose. I think we should track them down and stop them from spreading chaos. The Five Great Nations worked extremely hard to build a world of peace. That peace shouldn't be destroyed, especially not if it's because of something I did. I left the Hidden Leaf to make amends to the world for what I've done. This mission would be my way of doing that. You can make amends this way too, Orochimaru."

 _Yes, the three of us together can do this. Between Orochimaru's knowledge, Karin's sensing, and my power, no one would be able to evade us!_ Sasuke thought.

"I will have to decline that offer, my boy." Orochimaru rejected.

"Awww… Why can't you come along with us, Lord Orochimaru?!" Karin complained.

"It's simply against my nature." Orochimaru answered. "Sasuke-kun may want to preserve peace, but I find it _boring!_ The world _needs_ a little chaos, and my experiments are the best chance I'll have at seeing that chaos come to fruition. Let them wreak havoc for all I care!"

Sasuke grabbed the hilt of his sword. "So you're an enemy."

Orochimaru threw his hands up in the air on reflex. "Relax, Sasuke-kun! I won't join you, but I won't stop you either! I thought you grew out of seeing the world in black and white!"

Orochimaru's comment prompted Sasuke to loosen the grip on his sword.

"In fact, if you'll allow me, I'll even push you in the right direction."

Sasuke took a deep breath and steadied himself. "Fine. Hurry up with whatever help you have for us so we can be on our way."

Orochimaru turned towards the open door and jumped off the branch. "Very well then, please follow me. I would like to welcome you to my new home."


	6. Chapter 5: Leaving the Nest Once More

Sasuke and Karin followed Orochimaru down the open hatch, Karin closing it on her way down the stairs leading to Orochimaru's new lair. The staircase began to loop into a spiral after a dozen steps or so from the top. The outer wall of the staircase was lined with small candles, which Orochimaru lit with Fire Style as he passed them. When the three reached the bottom of the staircase they found themselves in the centre of a wide, round room with four doors evenly spaced apart. The room was already lit with a few candles in between the doors, but it still seemed fairly dark compared to the light of the sun outside. Sasuke felt the base was similar to the one in the Land of Grass, where he met with Naruto and Sakura for the first time since leaving the Hidden Leaf Village four years ago, albeit much smaller.

"It's more modest than I'm sure either of you are used to, but I think you'd be able make yourselves feel at home here." Orochimaru told the others as he made the last step down the staircase.

Sasuke noticed the room had different pieces of furniture in each quadrant on his way down. In clockwise order, one had several beds, one had a cauldron and a few rusty chairs around it, one had several desks with various chemistry and alchemy tools scattered about, and one was completely empty save for a lone practice dummy. Sasuke assumed each quadrant was for sleeping, eating, studying, and training respectively.

Orochimaru led Sasuke and Karin to the area with the alchemy equipment, took a small scroll out of one of the desks, and wrote something on it. He then gave Sasuke the scroll:

"Here you go. Those are all my former experiments, employees, or prisoners that I think are dangerous enough to warrant at least an A class in the Bingo Book. Excluding ourselves and Kabuto, of course."

What Sasuke expected to read was a list of names, but instead he found something else:

 _Naked Swordsman – A_

 _Silent Thunder – A_

 _Desert Maelstrom – A_

 _Worst Natural Gift – S_

 _Father of the Impure World – S_

 _Twin Gods of Death – Flee on Sight_

"These aren't names!" Sasuke shouted.

"Did I say they were?"

"You tricked us!" Karin accused.

"Not quite." Orochimaru rebutted. "What I wrote down aren't names, but they _are_ clues to your targets' identities."

Sasuke and Karin looked at Orochimaru, puzzled.

"Think of this like a _game_. You lot are the _Players_ , I am the _Dungeon Master_ , and what you have written down are the game's _Mystery Bosses_ scattered throughout the world! If you can identify and incapacitate all six of your targets, then you win! But if you come crawling back to Papa at any time because you can't figure out or defeat one of them, then I win!"

"I'm not really in the mood for games…" Sasuke responded, "… but I'll play along. But only because I know you won't give me any more assistance than this. Let's go, Karin."

Sasuke put the scroll in his pouch as he began to walk back to the central staircase. Karin wasn't following him. Sasuke looked back to see Karin sensing someone with her _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique.

"If you're going to be in charge of this game, _Dungeon Master,_ then you should at least make sure the players have a full party before they set off!" a smooth voice said as the nearest door opened.

Sasuke looked towards the door to find Suigetsu, and Jugo just behind him.

"Really man, what would this duo of Magic Knight and Cleric accomplish without its Damage Sponge and Berserker as back-up?" Suigetsu asked while looking squarely at Orochimaru.

"I don't like being called a Berserker…" Jugo protested, his voice still easily the deepest of everyone present despite the soft tone.

"What are you guys doing here with Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked.

"We had to break out of Samurai prison to join the war," Jugo started answering.

"… so _Dungeon Master_ over here offered us protection from the law in exchange for helping him build his new hideout." Suigetsu finished.

"You morons!" Karin shouted. "You should have followed my example and turned yourselves in! And you!" she said while pointing at Suigetsu, "Weren't you the one that said that only someone crazy would join Lord Orochimaru willingly?! What a hypocrite!"

Suigetsu was physically taken aback by Karin's last comment and replied with silence. Sasuke couldn't quite figure out why, but he could tell that Suigetsu not acting with his usual belligerence meant that he was hurt pretty hard. He had to alleviate the tension in the room so Suigetsu would be more open to discussion:

"Her intentions weren't as pure as she's making them out to be, but Karin's right. You both should have followed her and turned yourselves in to Hidden Leaf custody as my accomplices. After all…" Sasuke smirked, "… you would have been pardoned right along with her."

" _ **WHAT?!**_ " Suigetsu practically melted in amazement.

Sasuke then explained to Suigetsu and Jugo how Karin got pardoned and joined him on his journey of redemption.

"Anyway, you two being here saves me the time to look for you." Sasuke said.

"You were going to look for them anyway?!" Karin shouted.

"Of course I was. Don't you remember the discussion we had last night?"

"Oh yeah…"

"So what _did_ you guys talk about all alone at night?" Suigetsu interjected, leaning in out of curiosity.

Sasuke took a moment to collect his nerves. "Suigetsu, Jugo… I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what? You might have done some bad stuff, but you never did anything bad to _us_ , right?" Suigetsu asked. Sasuke looked at Karin briefly, and Karin shook her head.

 _She isn't going to bring up ditching them to pursue Danzo, at least not now…_ Sasuke thought. Then he answered:

"I didn't do anything particularly good to you either. I'd even go so far as to say I never really cared about you three during the entire time I knew you up until now. Last night, I told Karin I was sorry for never trying to understand her beyond what abilities she could use, and the same holds for the both of you. And I hope this journey together will help us become comrades for real."

"That's not true, Sasuke." Jugo objected. "You did do something good to me. You reminded me of Kimimaro and helped me calm down whenever I was in a frenzy."

"While what you say is true… neither of those things were done out of the goodness of my heart. You started comparing me to Kimimaro on your own; I personally had nothing to do with making that connection. I just noticed it and used it to make sure you were loyal. I _manipulated_ you to serve my own ambitions. That's… not what comrades do for each other."

"Regardless of your intentions, I'm glad you did what you did either way." Jugo said as he placed his right hand on Sasuke's left shoulder and smiled down at him. "All I ask is that you continue to stop me if I snap."

"I will keep doing that, don't worry."

"Hey, I've got an apology to make too!" Karin said as she turned to Suigetsu. "It's hard for me to say this, but… I'm sorry that I took my frustrations out on you when we met up during the war, Suigetsu…" Karin paused to focus her gaze on Sasuke, "… I should have kicked _him_ directly."

"Wow, Karin! You can actually voice your problems about Sasuke without simultaneously acting like a lovesick puppy! That's progress!" Suigetsu cheered with just a pinch of sarcasm.

"Well who asked _you_ , loser?!" Karin shouted.

"Umm, _hello?_ You did, bitch-face!" Suigetsu shouted back.

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you!"

"That's enough you two. Time to go!" Sasuke said as he broke up Karin and Suigetsu's fighting. With Taka together again, the four proceeded up the central staircase only to meet Orochimaru near the top, who managed to slither away while Karin and Suigetsu were busy fighting.

"Before you go," Orochimaru directed his attention towards Sasuke and Karin, "if you aren't getting together, then _please_ consider donating your sperm and eggs. The union of Uchiha and Uzumaki bloodlines could produce some of the most incredible ninja in all of history. Think of the children!"

" _ **No!**_ " Sasuke and Karin shouted in unison as they walked past him out the door with Suigetsu and Jugo following close behind.

"Then let the game begin!" Orochimaru shut the door behind Taka. With six unknown targets to look for and the resolve to foster their bonds in their hearts, Team Hawk's final hunt was about to start.


	7. Chapter 6: Odaka's First Flight

With all the members of Taka gathered outside Orochimaru's hideout, the first thing Sasuke did was show the scroll of hints to everyone, laying its contents face-up on the ground.

"The first targets we look for are going to be the A-Class ones. What does everyone think of the top half of this list?" Sasuke asked.

"Hah! I bet _Naked Swordsman_ is referring to Suigetsu!" Karin exclaimed.

"That's not funny, Karin!" Suigetsu responded.

"I _do_ recall you being naked when I first freed you from your tube…" Sasuke said. Karin was bursting with laughter at the visualization.

" _Naked Swordsman_ _**can't**_ be referring to me!" Suigetsu objected. "…I'm only a B-Class…" he said as he was beginning to whimper.

"Wow! You really _suck_ , don't you?" Karin sneered.

Sasuke faced Karin and gave her a dismissive stare. "Enough bullying, Karin. But you might be on to something. A swordsman without their sword could be considered _naked_ , right?"

"You have a point there." Jugo said.

"And the most prolific swordsmen in the world are the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist…" Karin thought aloud. "Hey, Suigetsu! You know any Swordsmen who lost their swords but are still alive?"

Upon Karin's question, Suigetsu looked down at his own chest. "Other than yourself!" Karin added.

Suigetsu shook his head. "I don't know. All the Swordsmen from the most recent complete generation are dead; them being revived during the war is proof of that. As for former wielders…"

Suigetsu hesitated for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Oh! I think I know who _Naked Swordsman_ might be!"

"Then explain your theory." Sasuke commanded.

"All right!" Suigetsu shouted. "During the Third Ninja World War, the Seven Swordsmen got into a fight with some bushy-brow Leaf ninja."

 _Bushy-brow Leaf ninja? But Might Guy would have been just a kid and Rock Lee might not have even been born yet! Must have been Guy's teacher…_ Sasuke thought.

"That ninja opened all eight Inner Gates and defeated them so soundly that they were forced to retreat. But before they did, Old Bushy Brows managed to kill two of them: Juzo Biwa, the wielder of Kubikiribocho; and Ikonokori Nashiken, the wielder of Hiramekarei. Or at least that's what was thought at the time; when Hunter Ninja returned to the scene of the battle to recover the bodies and the swords, they managed to recover both swords and Biwa's body, but…"

"But Nashiken's body was nowhere to be found?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah." Suigetsu nodded. "That means he might still be alive and without his sword. But I don't know where Hiramekarei is right now, so Nashiken might have found it…" Suigetsu's expression turned sour. "Big Bro Mangetsu became Hiramekarei's next wielder, and after he died, I ran away from the Hidden Mist. That was when Orochimaru abducted me, so I don't know who the Hidden Mist picked to be Big Bro's successor, or if Nashiken managed to defeat them and take the sword back…"

"Wait a minute!" Karin yelled. "Hiramekarei! What does it look like?!"

"It's a huge hunk of steel wrapped in bandages that you can transform into a hammer by sending your chakra into it. Why?"

Sasuke and Karin's eyes widened and they looked at each other in bewilderment.

"What's gotten into you two? Is it something I said?" Suigetsu asked.

"We know who has Hiramekarei." Sasuke said. Suigetsu's face went blank with shock.

"During the Kage Summit, when we got… split up," Karin began to explain, "Sasuke and I ran into the Mizukage and her bodyguards. One of those bodyguards had a sword _exactly_ as you described!"

"Just my fucking luck!" Suigetsu shouted. "Kubikiribocho gets broken and you're telling me there was another sword in _**the same goddamn building**_ and _**I MISSED IT?!**_ "

Suigetsu's rage made him foam at the mouth and he passed out.

"At least we know our first stop." Jugo interjected. "We go to the Hidden Mist Village, recruit that bodyguard, and have him lure out Nashiken with Hiramekarei as bait."

"What about the other A-Class targets?" Sasuke asked.

" _Silent Thunder…_ Maybe it's referring to someone who can use Lightning Style without making a sound?" Karin pondered as she held Suigetsu's unconscious body in her arms.

"That would be a rare gift indeed." Sasuke said. "My Chidori got its name because it makes the sound of one thousand birds chirping."

"The Hidden Cloud Village has the largest number of Lightning Style users in the world. That's the most likely place to find such an individual." Jugo concluded.

"And what about _Desert Maelstrom?_ " Karin asked.

"A maelstrom is a very strong type of wind." Sasuke said. "And the Land of Wind is one huge desert. _Desert Maelstrom_ is probably a former Hidden Sand ninja that has very powerful Wind Style jutsu. We'll need to head to the Hidden Sand Village at some point to check their Rogue Ninja records."

"But there's also a desert in the Land of Lightning." Jugo pointed out. "The chance is slim, but just in case, we should check the Hidden Cloud Village for _Desert Maelstrom_ as well."

Sasuke nodded. "Then it's settled. We go to the Hidden Mist, then the Hidden Cloud, then the Hidden Sand. We deal with the other half when we're finished there. Karin, wake Suigetsu up. We're heading off."

"Heading off?" Karin said. "But how are we going to reach the Hidden Mist Village? The Land of Fire and the Land of Water are separated by an ocean!"

"With this."

As Sasuke said those words he bit his thumb, turned away from the rest of Taka, and slammed his hand into the ground, bringing forth a great puff of smoke. Out came a very large hawk equipped with a four-seated saddle.

"Everyone, meet our transport for this mission. Her name's Odaka."

"Why… that name, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked as he woke up.

"It's a portmanteau of Odama and Taka. Giant and Hawk. Thought it fit."

"That name is very simple, you know…" Karin commented.

"Simple names are the easiest ones to remember…" Sasuke said as he remembered the Fourth Hokage's overly-long and ridiculous naming conventions. "At any rate, I get the pilot seat and Jugo gets shotgun. Suigetsu and Karin, you get the back."

"And just why do I have be sitting with _him_ , huh?!" Karin shouted.

"Yeah, Sasuke, I actually agree with her on this! Why does Jugo get the front and not me?!" Suigetsu also shouted.

"No way! _I_ should have the front with Sasuke! I'm the clear second-in-command of this team!"

"Jugo's in the front…" Sasuke interrupted, "… because he can talk to Odaka and let me know when she needs rest. You two have important jobs as well. Suigetsu, you're our lookout who'll let us know if there's anything of interest happening below us. Karin, you'll be using your sensing ability to keep our blind spots in check."

"Wait, Sasuke." Suigetsu objected. "I have to be… _looking down_ the whole time?"

"Yes. I hope you aren't _afraid of heights_." Sasuke smirked and winked. Suigetsu shivered in response.

"Any more questions?" the Uchiha asked.

"Just one." Jugo said. "Why aren't we using your Susano'o to travel? It's probably a little faster than Odaka…"

"Because I can't use Susano'o for travel anymore." Sasuke revealed as all the others' jaws dropped. "Karin, you were there when I first awakened my Rinnegan. Think about how much chakra I had right at that moment." Karin took a moment to remember it upon Sasuke's request. "Now compare that with the amount of chakra I have now that I've lost my left arm." Karin then used her _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique to scan Sasuke's chakra capacity.

"It's… only about _80 percent_ of what it was before…" Karin stated as worry crept into her voice.

"Precisely. I'm not as strong as I was when I fought Madara. And on top of that, since I lost my left arm, my body has to re-balance its energies. That makes molding and sustaining chakra much harder than it usually is. So until I get used to fighting with only one arm, I can't hold Susano'o for any more than a few minutes at most. And that's if I'm not using any large scale Ninjutsu while it's going on. If I did that, then Susano'o might not even last long enough for me to land safely. I learned that lesson the hard way yesterday; I used Amaterasu during Susano'o, Susano'o ended a few seconds later, and I had to summon Odaka in midair in order to survive the fall."

Suigetsu's, Karin's, and Jugo's faces were hard with concern, just now fully realizing how much losing his left arm had hampered Sasuke's ability to fight.

"And… you always used Chidori with your left hand, didn't you?" Karin asked.

"Yeah. I can't use Chidori for now. But I'm sure I'll be able to use it with my right hand eventually. So don't worry about that. I left the Hidden Leaf to earn the world's _forgiveness_ , not its _pity._ "

"It's hard not to worry…" Karin started crying into Suigetsu's shoulder.

"Hey, can we start riding Odaka now?" Suigetsu irritably asked, walking with Karin to the back seats.

"Yeah. It's time to fly. Follow me, Jugo." Sasuke declared as he repacked the hint scroll then walked up to Odaka's front seats with Jugo just behind him. All four members of Taka boarded Odaka and at Sasuke's instruction, the large bird took off south-east, towards the Hidden Mist Village.

[X-X-X]

Several hours after Odaka took off they passed the east coast of the Land of Fire. Shortly after doing so, Suigetsu spotted something worth comment. He saw a fairly large island with a ruined city on top, and several fast water currents and whirlpools surrounding it.

"Hey, what's that?!" Suigetsu asked.

"That's… that's the Hidden Whirlpool Village!" Karin shouted when she looked down to check what Suigetsu saw. "That's where the Uzumaki Clan lived! That's where _**my ancestors**_ lived!"

 _Here's a sight: Karin being this excited about something other than Sasuke!_ Suigetsu thought.

"Can we _please_ drop in for a visit, Sasuke? _**Pretty please?!**_ " Karin asked, just barely able to remain seated amidst her excitement.

"No, Karin." Sasuke answered without looking back.

" _ **Why not?!**_ The ruins might contain some advice about how to use my chains!"

"We need to focus on our mission. We're only landing if we reach our destination or if Odaka needs rest."

"Fine!" Karin crossed her arms and pouted. "Just promise to take me there when the mission is over!"

"Alright. We'll go to the Hidden Whirlpool Village when we've finished our mission."

[X-X-X]

Once it was nearing dusk, Jugo informed Sasuke that Odaka was tired; they needed to land to give her a chance to sleep. Unfortunately, there was another dilemma Taka faced that made such a landing difficult…

"Oh god, this mist is so _thick!_ My glasses are fogging up just being around it!" Karin shouted.

"We must be getting close to the Hidden Mist Village." Sasuke said. "Is the mist always this thick, Suigetsu?"

Suigetsu stroked his chin. "No, it shouldn't be… I mean, it's always a little foggy, but this kind of thickness is unnatural. My best guess is that someone below is using the _Hiding in Mist Jutsu._ "

"Like what Zabuza used?"

"Yeah! Like that!"

"Then we've got to fly lower for better visibility. _Naked Swordsman_ might be right underneath us as we speak! Karin, start sensing for any hostile chakra!" Sasuke ordered as he commanded Odaka to descend using the reins.

As Odaka was descending, Karin sensed five bodies of chakra under them, one alone and with murderous intent, the other four together and without it. Sasuke assumed the one lone hostile chakra was _Naked Swordsman_ and hunting the other four, so he steered Odaka closer to the quartet to warn them.

When Odaka landed, Sasuke noticed a nearby wooden house, which Karin confirmed the four docile chakra sources were coming from. Taka got off Odaka, with Sasuke cancelling Odaka's summon to keep her out of danger, and proceeded toward the house on foot. When they reached the door and Jugo knocked, someone quickly opened the door without revealing themselves and demanded the four of them come in. Among the faces that greeted Taka, only one stood out. Sasuke and Karin were taken aback since they recognized him immediately, and Suigetsu was taken aback for a different reason altogether.


	8. Chapter 7: Mangetsu Hozuki

"You… You have Hiramekarei!" Suigetsu shouted as he passed out in shock. Karin rushed to support him.

"Oh dear… what do I do here?" a meek yet masculine voice asked. Sasuke could tell the source of the voice, the one person that stood out in the group of four, was the very same bodyguard that he saw wielding Hiramekarei at the Five Kage Summit. The other three were all dressed in the same blue robes and had white masks with various red markings and the Hidden Mist Village symbol on them.

 _The others are all dressed like Haku. This must be a Hunter Ninja team, but then…_

"Excuse me, but what are you confused about?" Sasuke asked the bodyguard.

"Umm… it's actually you four. You see, since the war ended, the Five Great Shinobi Nations and the samurai of the Land of Iron have decided to communicate with each other more openly, and… we received conflicting reports from the messenger birds from the Hidden Leaf Village and the Land of Iron regarding you… You're Sasuke Uchiha, correct?" the bodyguard asked as he looked at Sasuke.

"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"

Upon the question, the bodyguard took two scrolls from inside his pouch and handed them to Jugo.

"Please have Sir Sasuke read these…" the bodyguard pleaded. Upon instruction Jugo opened one of the scrolls. This one had the Hidden Leaf Village symbol embroidered on the outside of it:

 _Dear Head Ninja of the other Great Shinobi Nations and Head Samurai of the Land of Iron:_

 _If you happen to come across Sasuke Uchiha or Karin Uzumaki, formerly wanted international criminals, do not, I repeat, do_ _ **not,**_ _arrest them on sight. Due to his involvement in saving the world from Infinite Tsukiyomi and ending the Fourth Ninja World War in a victory for the Shinobi Alliance, along with the opinion of Leaf Village Hero Naruto Uzumaki, it was decided that Sasuke Uchiha be pardoned of all crimes, including but not limited to defection from the Leaf Village to Rogue Ninja Orochimaru, temporary alliance with the terrorist group Akatsuki, attempted kidnapping of Hidden Cloud Jonin Killer B, intruding on the Five Kage Summit, and the murder of Substitute Hokage Danzo Shimura. Since Karin Uzumaki was voluntarily imprisoned as an accomplice of Sasuke Uchiha's for all but the first of the aforementioned crimes, we deemed it fair to pardon her as well. Do not treat them like criminals, but instead as Leaf Village Citizens on a… extended vacation._

 _However, do take note that these pardons have their limits. If you spot one or both of them in the act of committing a crime, their pardons will be revoked, and you should arrest them immediately and escort them to the Hidden Leaf Village as soon as possible. A sentence of Life in Prison is waiting for Sasuke Uchiha, and Ten Years in Prison is awaiting Karin Uzumaki, should their pardons be revoked._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Kakashi Hatake, Sixth Hokage._

After Sasuke finished reading Kakashi's letter, Jugo closed the scroll and opened up the other one:

 _Dear Five Kage:_

 _During the Fourth Ninja World War, two of our prisoners, Suigetsu Hozuki and Jugo of the Scales, have gone missing. If you spot them, please arrest them on sight and escort them to the Land of Iron as soon as possible, for they have yet to complete their shared sentence of Two Years in Prison for intruding on the Five Kage Summit._

 _That being said, we from the Land of Iron, in the interest of remaining a neutral party, do not wish to punish anyone for crimes committed outside our territory. If they are spotted committing a crime outside the Land of Iron, we confer their punishment to your discretion, and leave their time in prison for intruding on the Five Kage Summit to be held in a Hidden Village of your collective choice._

 _With Regards,_

 _Mifune, Head Samurai of the Land of Iron._

"So… you understand my dilemma?" the bodyguard asked.

"I think I do." Sasuke nodded. "You are unsure whether to consider consorting with Suigetsu and Jugo, wanted criminals, to be a crime that would revoke Karin's and my pardons or not."

"What do you think I should do, guys?" the bodyguard asked, looking behind him to the Hunter Ninja.

"You are in charge here, sir. It's up to you." one of the Hunter Ninja stated.

"I may have a solution." Sasuke said. "Suigetsu and Jugo are my subordinates, and for the foreseeable future will be under my supervision. As long as they're with me I will make sure they don't commit any further crimes. And given that Suigetsu and Jugo were accomplices of mine for most of the same crimes Karin turned herself in for, perhaps an arrangement can be made with the Hidden Leaf Village to pardon them with the same conditions as Karin's pardon?"

"I think… that can be arranged. As soon as we are finished with our current mission I'll inform Lady Mizukage about your situation and send word to the other countries…" the bodyguard meekly confirmed.

"All right! This conversation's gone on long enough without an introduction!" Suigetsu shouted as he woke up. "Who the hell are you, goggle-head? And why do you have Hiramekarei?!"

"Please keep your voice down…" the bodyguard said. "Anyway… My name is Chojuro. And are you sure you don't remember me, Suigetsu-kun?"

It took some time for Suigetsu to respond. "Oh! Now I remember you! … Wait, _you_ have Hiramekarei?!"

"How do you know Chojuro, Suigetsu?" Sasuke asked.

"Suigetsu-kun and I were… classmates." Chojuro answered. "He used to bully me in the Academy… I still remember how he would shoot me with water when the teacher wasn't looking…"

"Hey, that was a long time ago!" Suigetsu protested. "You really still holding a grudge after all this time?"

Chojuro shook his head. "Not really… I understand that you must have felt inferior to your brother, Sir Mangetsu, and you just took your frustrations out on me, so I can't really hate you for it… The memories still hurt though."

"Anyway, you still haven't answered why you have Hiramekarei." Suigetsu pointed out.

"Oh yeah, that… It's actually kind of embarrassing. You see, Lady Mizukage got her title by apprehending Sir Mangetsu's killer and taking Hiramekarei away from them… and Lady Mizukage gave me Hiramekarei as a birthday present afterwards…"

"It's no more embarrassing than robbing Kubikiribocho off a dead man's grave!" Karin sneered.

"Shut up…" Suigetsu said. But then…

"Wait a minute! Chojuro, you said the Mizukage apprehended Big Bro's killer? You know who they are?!"

"Yes… That's why I'm here. The killer turned out to be Ikonokori Nashiken, who we thought died during the Third Ninja World War. Lady Mizukage found him, defeated him, and brought him back to the Hidden Mist to be imprisoned. But he broke out during the Fourth war. These Hunter Ninja here were given the mission to track him and take him down, and I volunteered to take up the fourth spot in place of Sir Ao, who died in the war. You see, I thought that if I took out Nashiken myself, I'd finally earn the right to use Hiramekarei… Anyway, we tracked him down to this island, but with the Hiding in Mist Jutsu up we don't know exactly where he is…"

Suigetsu started shaking Chojuro's shoulders. "How?! How did Big Bro die?!" Karin looked at Suigetsu with worry and Sasuke placed his hand on his own chin in contemplation.

"I'll tell you. Just please… let me go."

Without another word, Suigetsu did as Chojuro requested and then took a deep breath to calm himself.

"It started with Kisame Hoshigaki's defection from the village." Chojuro explained. "When Kisame left, he took Samehada with him. Naturally, since Samehada is the strongest of the Seven Swords, the village wanted that sword back. So they sent the one ninja in the entire village that might have stood a chance at killing Kisame and taking Samehada back."

"And that was Big Bro… He did tell me he had a very important mission to do the last time I saw him…"

"Yes." Chojuro nodded. "Sir Mangetsu's last mission was to find Kisame Hoshigaki, kill him, and return to the village with Samehada. And eventually Sir Mangetsu did find Kisame and challenged him to a death match. To counter Samehada, Sir Mangetsu used Hiramekarei, his favourite of the Seven Swords. But while they were fighting, someone threw a lightning-charged kunai at the back of Sir Mangetsu's neck, killing him instantly. Kisame likely fled the scene afterwards having no need to stay."

"And that killer was Nashiken? He can use Lightning Style?" Suigetsu asked.

Chojuro shook his head. "Actually, no he can't… That confused us, since Nashiken's fingerprints were found on the murder weapon, so he definitely threw the kunai. We think Nashiken had an accomplice to charge lightning into his kunai for him before the fight. And considering how skilled Sir Mangetsu and Kisame were, we think that, in order for them not to notice -"

"The lightning didn't make a sound." Sasuke interrupted.

"There's someone that can do that? Make 'Silent Lightning'?" Suigetsu asked, and then gasped upon making the realization.

"There's at least one person in the world who can." Sasuke answered. "You weren't conscious when we discussed it, but we thought that _Silent Thunder_ was referring to someone that could use just that ability. And with Chojuro's account, we know that someone like that definitely exists; they were involved in Mangetsu's murder."

"Excuse me, Sir Sasuke, but what is this _Silent Thunder_ you speak of?" Chojuro asked.

Sasuke pulled out the hint scroll and showed it to him:

"Orochimaru gave us this scroll and challenged us to identify and incapacitate everyone indicated on this list. We came here under the impression that _Naked Swordsman_ was referring to Ikonokori Nashiken and wanted to get more information on him from your village."

"You're in cahoots with Orochimaru?" Chojuro narrowed his eyes as he placed one hand on the pommel of Hiramekarei while holding the hint scroll in the other.

"No. If anything, we're opponents at the moment." Sasuke replied. "He may have assigned us this mission, but it's clear he doesn't want us to _succeed._ Feel free to subject yourself to my Sharingan Memory Sharing if you don't believe me."

Chojuro let go of Hiramekarei and focused on the scroll once more. "If you're that confident in what you say I don't need to… Hold on. There's something bugging me about this scroll… the word ' _Swordsman_ '! Are you _sure_ Orochimaru was the one who wrote this?"

"Karin and I both saw him write it."

Chojuro gasped. "No way… then Orochimaru was…!"

"Tell me man, what did Orochimaru do?!" Suigetsu asked, incredulous.

"The thing is, the 'Silent Lightning' kunai wasn't the strangest thing about Sir Mangetsu's death." Chojuro explained. "Along with Sir Mangetsu's body, the Hunter Ninja discovered a note. We believed it to be a calling card left by the killer. It had this to say: ' _If you want to avenge this poor Swordsman's death and retrieve his favourite toy, then come to the northernmost island in the Land of Water and challenge me!'_ That's how Lady Mizukage knew where to find Nashiken."

"And you're saying the word ' _Swordsman_ ' in both this scroll and the calling card are _identical?_ " Sasuke asked.

Chojuro slowly, silently nodded.

In reaction, Suigetsu began shivering and trembling with rage.

"Then that means…" Suigetsu trailed off into silence.

Sasuke faced Suigetsu and nodded. "Yes, Suigetsu. It means that the mastermind behind your brother's murder… is Orochimaru himself."

"How is that possible?!" Suigetsu's voice was filled with despair.

"Think about it. Who has the most to gain from that calling card's existence?" Sasuke asked rhetorically. "Nashiken spent eight years or more looking for Hiramekarei. He wouldn't want to risk losing it again right after reuniting with it. No, Orochimaru wrote that calling card in order to implicate his accomplice as the sole killer, diverting suspicion away from himself and his subordinate, _Silent Thunder_. Furthermore, Orochimaru was a member of Akatsuki at the time; he'd know where Kisame would be when Mangetsu found him, giving him the opportunity to plot his death."

"But why… why would Orochimaru want to kill Big Brother at all?!" Suigetsu began sobbing.

"Do you really need to ask?"

As Sasuke said those words, he lifted his index and middle fingers and pressed them against Suigetsu's forehead.

"Orochimaru… killed my brother… to get _me?_ " Suigetsu's voice grew quiet.

"Without Mangetsu around to protect you…" Sasuke said, "… you were weak. You were lonely. You were _vulnerable._ And you ran away in grief. That made you very easy to collect. That was Orochimaru's motive…"

"Orochimaru probably struck a deal with Nashiken and plotted to kill your brother together." Jugo added. "Orochimaru would be able to acquire you for his experiments, and Nashiken would regain ownership of Hiramekarei. And then Orochimaru sold Nashiken out when he outlived his usefulness to cover his tracks."

"When we first discussed _Naked Swordsman_ ," Karin further added, "we weren't able to find a relation between Nashiken and Orochimaru… But now we know what it is. That relation is…"

"… Mangetsu Hozuki's death." Sasuke, Karin, and Jugo all said at once.

Suigetsu's face started to crack. "No way! I refuse to believe it! I never… liked him much… but Orochimaru… was the one that… convinced me that finding all the swords… and reviving the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist… was the ideal way to honour my brother's memory… and you're… telling me… that he… was one of the bastards that killed him to begin with?! In that case, my whole life is just **one big fucking** _ **lie!**_ _ **ARRGGHH!**_ "

Suigetsu held his head in his hands, shaking violently, filled with feelings of despair and betrayal. Then he went down on his knees in anguish. "What am I supposed to do now, guys? My whole purpose for living was to find the swords… And now I learn it's pointless…"

At that moment, Karin went down on her knees and slapped Suigetsu across the face.

"Don't hit me while I'm already down, Karin…" Suigetsu meekly protested.

Karin glared at him. "I wasn't trying to make fun of you, idiot! I'm trying to knock you back to your senses!"

"Huh?"

"Even if Orochimaru did kill your brother, what he said about reviving the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist is still true! Mangetsu dedicated his life to mastering all the Swords of the Mist. To revive the Swordsmen and find all the swords, you'll have to defeat all their current wielders! And in order to do that, you'll need to master the swords yourself! In doing so, Mangetsu's will shall live on in you!"

Suigetsu hesitated. "You're… you're right, Karin. I know you are… It's just… It's just… I don't know if I'll be able to live with myself knowing the truth… and who caused it…"

Sasuke knelt down, eye-to-eye with Suigetsu, and spoke with him:

"I know what you're thinking, and what you're thinking of doing is not right. I know from experience that obsessing over your thoughts of hatred will only lead to a path of self-destruction. But I also know that ignoring or denying your feelings for a long time can be just as destructive…"

"Then what do I do about them?" Suigetsu asked.

"What you do is vent your frustrations by taking your revenge out on Nashiken right here and now. That way, your anger doesn't fester any longer than it has to."

"But I thought you swore off revenge…"

"What I swore off was _hatred_ , Suigetsu. Revenge itself is a fundamental part of human nature; when someone does something to hurt you or someone you care about, it is only natural that you want to hurt that person back. Eye for an eye, and all that. Revenge only becomes a problem when you focus on it to such an extreme that everything else around you becomes pointless, you stop caring to learn the opposing side, and you start hurting innocent people or those you care about in order to get your revenge. _That_ 's when it becomes hatred, and _that_ 's what I've chosen never to do again. And that's why…"

Sasuke stood up and held his hand out for Suigetsu to hold:

"… So long as no one in this room gets hurt in the process and you ask Nashiken his side of the story, you have my permission to kill him in any way you see fit."

Suigetsu took hold of Sasuke's hand and stood up.

"Thanks, man. I really needed that. I think I'll take you up on that offer!" Suigetsu said, his spirit returning. He then turned towards the door to walk out.

"…Wait!" Chojuro yelled. "What about my chance to prove myself as Hiramekarei's wielder?"

"If you don't want to lose that chance…" Sasuke smirked, "… then I suggest you follow him."

"Don't bother following, Chojuro." Suigetsu shook his head as he began smirking himself. "Instead, come alongside me! I have the most awesome plan to take Nashiken down, and I'm going to need your help to pull it off!"


	9. Chapter 8: The Seal of Confrontation

_Okay… I just need to do what Suigetsu-kun told me to… I sure hope this works…_ Chojuro thought as he began the first phase of their plan to take down Nashiken. He walked to a fairly open field just a few metres away from the cabin he and Taka just conversed in. He puffed up his chest and raised Hiramekarei in the air with both hands, steeling himself for the opening act of Suigetsu's plan.

"You want Hiramekarei?! Come out… and fight me for it, coward!" Chojuro screamed as loudly as he could. Dead silence followed for only a few seconds, but for Chojuro it felt much longer, anxious for what was to come next. He recalled Sasuke stipulating that no one in the cabin, including Chojuro, could get hurt in the process of exacting Suigetsu's revenge. And he could also feel Sasuke staring at him from just behind the door to the cabin in order to make sure nothing went wrong. Chojuro had to make sure no harm came to himself for Suigtetsu's sake; Sasuke was watching.

The silence ended when someone came running from behind the mist. Chojuro could hear the footsteps coming and turned 90 degrees to his right, bringing Hiramekarei down to block the incoming strikes. The first strike was an intended stab to the abdomen with two kunai, one in each hand; Chojuro blocked them simultaneously. Then the assailant tried to swing at Chojuro's legs with his left kunai; with a simple movement Chojuro lowered Hiramekarei to block that too. The third intended strike was a slash at Chojuro's head with his right kunai, Chojuro's head now exposed with Hiramekarei closer to the ground. Before the third strike could connect, however, there was an explosion of water erupting from the assailant's stomach and he collapsed, falling to the ground face-up.

Someone then rushed up to the scene, stomped his right foot on the attacker's abdomen, knelt down with his left leg to grab the assailant's head with his right hand, and pointed at the assailant's right temple with his left hand.

It was Suigetsu.

"How does it feel, Nashiken?!" Suigetsu shouted.

"What?!" Nashiken responded.

"How does it feel being _sniped in the middle of a duel_ , asshole?! Answer me!"

"You're the sniper?! Where… did you… come from?!"

"We of the _**Hozuki**_ clan can turn into water at will. I turned myself into a puddle and laid low on top of the house. Your own mist was so thick you couldn't even tell I was there!"

"Did you say … _**Hozuki?!**_ " Nashiken realized at that moment just who he was dealing with.

"Now you get it, don'tcha! I made you feel the same pain my brother Mangetsu felt when _he_ died. Just a little something I like to call _karmic justice!_ So answer my question, dammit! How does it feel?!"

"I feel… cheated. I had my chance… to take back Hiramekarei… and it was stolen from me…"

"Good! You're _not_ a heartless monster!" Suigetsu sarcastically exclaimed. "Now did you _ever_ think that maybe that's how my brother would feel, being _cheated_ out of taking back Samehada?!"

"I didn't care…" Nashiken said as he began to succumb to his wound, bleeding from the mouth. "All that mattered to me… was taking back Hiramekarei… My sword meant everything to me…"

Suigetsu spat in Nashiken's face.

"My boss said I had to get your side of things before I killed you. I think he wanted me to know what kind of a person you were before I decided to end your life… and you know what? I think I really _**am**_ going to kill you now that I've gotten to know you! You're the most pathetic man I've ever met! You were so obsessed with taking back your sword that you've forgotten what it means to be a Swordsman! Even _Karin's_ feelings are healthier than yours!"

"…Excuse me?"

"Do you know _why_ we try to kill each other for the swords?"

"I… don't know…"

"Well I'll tell you: it's for the _**swords'**_ benefit, dipshit! When two people are locked in a duel, the true nature of their souls get pit against each other. The one with the greater skill and spirit wins, and proves themselves more worthy. The swords have a _**right**_ to know who is the more worthy wielder… and shooting someone dead in the middle of a duel denies the swords that right!"

"What would you know?! Do you have _any_ idea how it feels to lose your sword… at no fault of your own?!"

"Actually… yeah I do. I got into a big fight and lost Kubikiribocho during the chaos."

Nashiken took a few seconds to respond, fighting the blood loss. "So you're Biwa's -"

"No." Suigetsu interrupted. "Biwa's successor, Zabuza Momochi, died in battle four years ago, and Kubikiribocho was left at Zabuza's grave. That's where I first found it; I never earned the right to use that sword. Hell, it's probably in more worthy hands as we speak."

"You never… tried to look for it…?" Nashiken asked in between coughs.

"When I finally had the chance to, I looked for it in the place I lost it and found it was gone. But after that… I made a choice. I wouldn't obsess over trying to find it again. Instead, I decided to look for my friends! Weapons, even ones as unique and powerful as the Swords of the Mist, are just tools we use to accomplish our dreams; a means to an end and nothing more. If you lose a weapon, it can be replaced. People are different; they have hearts, feelings, and memories, and the way you feel about one will be different to how you feel about all the others. Once you lose someone important to you, they can't be replaced with anyone else!"

Suigetsu took both his hands and turned Nashiken's head toward the cabin. Sasuke, Karin, and Jugo had left it to watch Suigetsu after Sasuke confirmed the battle was over, and Nashiken had all three in his line of sight:

"You see the one-armed dude with mismatched eyes, the red-headed four-eyes chick, and the giant over there? Well they're my friends! And each one of them on their own… is worth more to me than all the swords in the world! When I die, I know all three of them will mourn my loss. But you… I don't think anyone will care!"

Nashiken tried to say something to rebuke Suigetsu, but his mouth fully succumbed to his injury and it stopped moving. Suigetsu turned Nashiken's head back up, and all Nashiken could do was follow his movements with his eyes. To Nashiken's surprise, Suigetsu let him go and stood up.

"If you want Hiramekarei back so badly, then take it! It'll be the last thing you ever touch!" Suigetsu shouted as he stood aside, giving room to Chojuro.

Chojuro fed chakra to Hiramekarei and turned it into its hammer form. He then smashed Hiramekarei down on Nashiken, his entire body being flattened. The impact Hiramekarei made on the ground formed a crater that no one present would ever forget.

[X-X-X]

One of the Hunter Ninja just finished rolling Nashiken's body up and placed him inside an elongated tube for easy transport back to the Hidden Mist Village. Chojuro and Suigetsu were still standing next to the site of Nashiken's death, while Sasuke, Karin, and Jugo sat down nearby. The mist had cleared and a half-moon could clearly be seen in the night sky.

Chojuro turned to face Suigetsu. "I've been thinking… about what you said. And I think… Sir Mangetsu would have preferred that you have this."

Chojuro then walked up to Suigetsu and gave Hiramekarei to him. As soon as he acquired it, however, Suigetsu threw Hiramekarei away, blade-first into the crater left behind by the final blow to Nashiken.

"I can't accept it."

"Why not? You were the one that came up with the plan to kill Nashiken, a former wielder of this very sword. You've earned it."

"No I haven't. I just criticized Nashiken for taking his sword back without proving himself worthy in a proper duel. If I acquired Hiramekarei by doing that exact same thing to get it, then I'd be a hypocrite…" Suigetsu's brow furrowed, "…and I can't stand hypocrites!"

 _So that's why Suigetsu froze up earlier today… Karin's accusation struck a deep nerve._ Sasuke thought as he overheard their discussion.

"The way I see it, the one I have to defeat to truly earn Hiramekarei…" Suigetsu pointed at Chojuro, "… is _you!_ "

"To be honest with you, Suigetsu-kun… I feel the same way. We both have missions to complete, but when we're finished… let's settle once and for all who's more worthy of Hiramekarei at this very spot."

"Yeah, that's a good idea!"

"If you're promising to fight here someday…" Sasuke interjected as he stood up and walked toward the both of them, "… then you need to make it official. There's a tradition taught in the Hidden Leaf Village dedicated to just this occasion. It's called the Seal of Confrontation."

Sasuke held his hand up for Suigetsu and Chojuro to see, kept his index and middle fingers up, and curled his thumb, ring, and pinky fingers down. "If both of you perform this seal while facing each other, then you will never forget to come back here and settle things."

Suigetsu and Chojuro faced each other and performed the Seal of Confrontation as Sasuke instructed. While performing the seal, both Suigetsu and Chojuro felt compelled to return to the site of Nashiken's death when their missions were over to keep their promise to each other.

"And when your battle is over…" Sasuke added, "… make sure to perform this seal as well, so you remain comrades after the fight."

Sasuke took Chojuro's seal and connected it with his own by the index and middle fingers, then facing the hands downward. "This is the Seal of Reconciliation, and it represents that two comrades that fought with each other will remain comrades in the future regardless of the battle's outcome. Since you both agree that Hiramekarei will go to the more worthy wielder no matter who wins, making this seal together will ensure no bad blood comes between you when you finally figure out whom Hiramekarei's rightful owner is."

"We became comrades?" Suigetsu and Chojuro asked Sasuke at the same time.

"You worked together to bring justice to Mangetsu's killer." Sasuke said. "That's a bond of camaraderie right there. Don't let your rivalry over Hiramekarei ruin that bond; it's more valuable than any sword in the world."

 _You agree with me, don't you, Naruto?_ Sasuke concluded in his head.

"It's time to go, Captain Chojuro!" one of the Hunter Ninja shouted.

"Umm… Goodbye everyone! And may we meet again, Suigetsu-kun!" Chojuro said his goodbyes as he rushed to Hiramekarei and lifted it out of the ground on his way back to the Hidden Mist Village. "I'll hold on to this until our battle!"

As Chojuro and his team left the scene, Suigetsu smiled and waved goodbye:

"See ya, Chojuro! And prepare to get your ass kicked!"

"What do we do now, Sasuke?" Jugo asked.

Sasuke's stomach suddenly started growling. "First we find some place to eat and sleep… Then tomorrow, we take off for the Hidden Cloud Village and _Silent Thunder_."


	10. Chapter 9: Opening Old Wounds

After defeating Ikonokori Nashiken and parting ways with Chojuro and his team, Taka found a tavern on the other side of the island they were on and had food and rest there. The following morning, they embarked on Odaka once more and headed north for the Hidden Cloud Village.

When it reached midday…

"I've had enough, Karin! What's going on?!" Suigetsu asked. "You've been acting all giddy ever since we took off!"

"Oh, umm… I've just been thinking about last evening!" Karin said. "I mean, I thought you were just the _weak link_ in our team, Suigetsu, but now… well, I have to admit you can be a real badass sometimes!"

" _ **Sometimes?!**_ I'm _always_ a badass, thank you very much! Sasuke just hogs the spotlight most of the time!" Suigetsu quickly looked back down, ejecting himself from the discussion and resuming his job as lookout.

"I've got something to ask too, Karin." Sasuke interjected, Karin's gaze snapping forward to Sasuke's direction. "Last evening, you stopped referring to Orochimaru as 'Lord' Orochimaru. Any particular reason for that?"

"Well, that is… uhhh…" Karin was flustered and stumbling for words. "When I learned what Orochimaru did to pretty much destroy Suigetsu's life… I decided he didn't deserve the title anymore! That's all!" She then looked away, turning her back to Suigetsu.

 _Orochimaru's ruined many more lives than just Suigetsu's and you were fine knowing about those… Ah, so that's it. Karin might present a tough front around him, but she cares about Suigetsu a lot, and is hard on him precisely so he can improve himself and meet her expectations. That's just like… how_ _ **I**_ _acted towards_ _ **Sakura**_ _when we were on Team Seven. Karin claimed to be in love with me but is it possible… that Karin loves Suigetsu as well?_

At that moment, Sasuke's thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

"Sasuke! Odaka wants to stop!" Jugo shouted. At the signal, Sasuke commanded Odaka to stop her flight to the Hidden Cloud Village and remain idle.

"There's something really big under us… moving!" Suigetsu observed.

"There's a really huge chakra under us too! Bigger than a Tailed Beast's, even!" Karin added.

Sasuke looked down to see a massive assortment of spires protruding from some type of circular construct. And at the south end, there was a large phallic object that Sasuke couldn't recognize in detail on first glance, but saw it curl up towards them. Sasuke could make out a few features then; there were eyes and a mouth, the latter of which opened and a booming bellow met Taka's ears. Sasuke realized they were looking at an utterly gigantic spiked turtle, and said turtle was saying hello.

"Smile and wave at the turtle passing by us!" Sasuke commanded. On cue, Karin, Suigetsu, Jugo, and Sasuke himself all looked down and waved the massive turtle hello and Odaka flapped her wings at double speed for the same effect. Apparently satisfied, the turtle moved its head back into the water and Odaka continued her course for the Hidden Cloud Village.

"What the hell _was_ that thing?" Suigetsu and Karin asked in unison.

"I think it was Turtle Island." Jugo said. "I've heard there's a turtle so massive that it houses a training ground and lots of exotic and exclusive wildlife on its back. What we just saw was definitely big enough. Ever since I heard of it, I've wanted to go there at least once to see all the animals that live there…" Jugo's voice trailed off to silence.

"But isn't Turtle Island owned by the Hidden Cloud?" Sasuke asked. "Why is it swimming _away_ from its home?"

"We'll find out when we get there, won't we?" Suigetsu answered.

Sasuke sighed. "I suppose you're right."

[X-X-X]

Taka was not quite able to make it to the Hidden Cloud Village in one day. Odaka got tired shortly after dusk and Sasuke commanded her to land just a little ways south of the Hidden Cloud Village. When Odaka landed, Sasuke soon realized that the place they landed in was the Storm Cloud Ravine, the very same place that he and the rest of Taka fought the Eight Tails' Jinchuriki, which Sasuke remembered Kakashi called Killer B in his pardon announcement letter. This was the very place Sasuke was "promoted" from a mere Hidden Leaf Rogue Ninja to an S-Class internationally-wanted criminal.

And because of that, Sasuke realized he and the rest of his team might not be welcome here. With this thought in mind, Sasuke tried to lead Taka to a nearby tavern for some food and rest, but before they could even make it…

"Freeze!" someone shouted from the distance. Sasuke could hear several footsteps coming from various directions, at least twelve in total.

"What do we do, Sasuke?" Karin asked, worried.

"We surrender. Resisting arrest does nothing other than revoke our pardons."

Upon Sasuke's command, all of Taka put their hands up in the air and formed a circle with their backs to each other, and kneeled on the ground. Soon enough, sixteen Hidden Cloud ninja were surrounding them, and facing Sasuke was someone he recognized from the Five Kage Summit.

"I sensed you were coming. You have a lot of nerve coming back here after what you did." the man said. He had lighter skin than usual for someone from the Hidden Cloud Village, and evenly parted blond hair. He couldn't remember for sure, but Sasuke thought the man's name was C.

"We can explain. Please let us have an audience with the Raikage." Sasuke asked.

 _The Raikage…_ Sasuke began to think. _In a way, the state the entire world is in now is because of him. He called the Five Kage Summit in response to Killer B going missing, and as a result, the Shinobi Alliance and the Fourth Ninja World War came into being. Had the Raikage never called the Five Kage Summit, how different would the world be?_

Sasuke's thoughts were cut short by C's reply:

"I think I'll grant that request. But only because I'm sure Lord Raikage would _want_ to speak with you personally." Three ninja then stepped forward and put Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo in handcuffs, Suigetsu's cuffs being imbued with Lightning Style chakra, while C cuffed Sasuke's one arm to one of his own and blindfolded him.

"It will take until tomorrow to reach Lord Raikage's chambers. Please remain patient and don't cause any trouble until that time comes." C said as he began leading Taka to the Hidden Cloud Village.

[X-X-X]

It took until noon the following day to reach the Raikage's office. They might have arrived earlier, but C stopped to make sure his prisoners were not starved before the meeting. Once Taka entered the Raikage's chambers, Sasuke's blindfold was taken off. He could see the Raikage sitting at his desk, wearing his usual white robes and the Raikage hat. He could also see slightly behind him and to the left, a fairly tall dark-skinned man with wavy blond hair covering one of his eyes and a fairly large sword at his back. Sasuke could recognize him as the Raikage's other bodyguard from the Five Kage Summit.

"C! What is the meaning of this?!" the Raikage shouted as he stood up and pounded his desk. It was then that Sasuke noticed the Raikage was still missing his left arm.

 _That's right… the Raikage and I both have only one arm. Why didn't he get his replaced? I suppose I'm not at liberty to ask right now…_ Sasuke thought.

"Sasuke Uchiha requested an audience with you, sir…" C answered. "And I thought you would want to speak with him, so I complied… Was I wrong?"

"No…" the Raikage admitted. "There are a lot of things I want to say to this kid. By your leave, C."

"As you command, Lord Raikage."

With those words, C released Sasuke from his handcuff and left the room.

The Raikage promptly faced Sasuke and stared him in the torso. "Now then, _Uchiha_ , what makes you think you can just waltz back into my village like nothing happened?!"

"Umm, hello?!" Karin replied. "Sasuke got pardoned by the Leaf thanks to his actions in the war! He has _**every right**_ to waltz around here like nothing happened!"

"Karin! We're speaking to the Raikage. Be respectful!" Sasuke admonished.

"Sorry…" Karin's voice trailed into silence.

"A pardon?! That's the first I've heard of that!" the Raikage exclaimed.

"It _shouldn't_ be." Sasuke pointed out. "The Hokage sent messenger birds to all the other Great Nations with a letter explaining my pardon. I didn't know about this myself until a ninja from the Hidden Mist showed the letter to me. And that was two days ago; you definitely should have received your copy by now."

The Raikage's eye twitched. "I've never seen such a letter! How can I even know you're telling the truth about it?!"

"My Sharingan. I could show you the memory I had of reading the letter."

"Spare me your _tricks!_ I know how that works; you use a Genjutsu to send images into my head. For all I know those memories could be fake!"

Sasuke was taken aback by the Raikage's reply.

"Then what about me?!" Karin interjected. "I can sense when people are lying with my _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique, and I know he's telling the truth!"

The Raikage went silent at Karin's offer, and it took a few moments before he could respond:

"If you indeed have that ability, you are no doubt C's superior when it comes to sensing… but it can't be trusted coming from you. You could be lying yourself to cover for your commander! What I need is _**hard evidence**_ that the letter exists!"

"I'm sorry everyone!" the man in the back interrupted.

"Darui? What's the matter?" the Raikage asked, looking back to him.

"I think I forgot to check the messenger birds this morning!" Darui exclaimed. "I'll go check them now. Maybe that pardon announcement letter is there! Excuse me!"

As Darui finished he walked his way past Taka and left the Raikage's office. Once he was gone…

"That man… was lying." Karin said.

"I know." The Raikage replied. "I saw him check them this morning myself."

"Then why'd he leave?" Sasuke asked.

"I think he believes your story and wanted a chance to find the evidence you need. He can tell when someone is genuinely remorseful; _sorry_ is his most frequently-uttered word, after all!"

Suigetsu's eyes widened with excitement. "Then you believe us?!"

"On Darui's word alone? No. But he _has_ inspired me to give you a chance. Why have you come here?"

"We came here on pursuit of someone who can use Lightning Style without making a sound." Sasuke explained.

"We have reason to think they're involved in the murder of my brother, Mangetsu Hozuki." Suigetsu added.

The Raikage's eyes narrowed into an accusatory glare. "So you're on another _revenge_ trip?"

"No." Sasuke objected. "We just want to stop them from hurting anyone else."

The Raikage sighed and relaxed himself. "There is one person that fits the bill… name's Fuzai." At that moment, he started laughing. "But I sorely doubt _they're_ the person you're looking for!"

"And why is that?" Jugo asked.

"He's incredibly weak! He took the Chunin Exams ten times in a row and failed every single one of them! The boy got so depressed he quit being an active ninja and demoted himself to messenger bird duty! Someone like that killing such a strong shinobi like Mangetsu Hozuki? It's laughable!"

Suigetsu gasped. "Oh my god…"

"What's the matter, Suigetsu?" Sasuke asked.

"That's how he learned about me… the Hidden Mist and Hidden Cloud villages hold their Chunin Exams together…" Suigetsu whispered to Sasuke's ear.

"I understand. You're accusing him of _that_ , aren't you?" Sasuke thought aloud, figuring out _Silent Thunder_ 's connection to Orochimaru.

"What is this _that_ you're speaking of?" the Raikage asked.

"We believe Fuzai failed your Chunin Exams _on purpose_ , sir." Sasuke said.

" _ **On purpose?!**_ Why?!"

"We think he was using the Chunin Exams to scout out talented young ninja in your village and the Hidden Mist Village as people of interest for Orochimaru to collect."

"Is there any sort of precedent for this?!"

Sasuke nodded. "Yes there is. There was someone who was doing this very same thing in the Hidden Leaf's and Hidden Sand's Chunin Exams. They took seven Chunin Exams in a row, failing them all, before he was forced to stop because his relation to Orochimaru was exposed during Orochimaru's attempted take-over of the Hidden Leaf four years ago. But recently he's gained infamy for something else."

"And that is?!"

"Being one of the masterminds behind the Fourth Ninja World War: Kabuto Yakushi."

The Raikage was speechless.

"I take it you understand that Fuzai could be much, _much_ stronger than he lets on." Sasuke concluded.

"There is some reason in what you say…" the Raikage admitted, "…but I can't convict a man on reasoning alone. You're going to need evidence to back up that accusation!"

All the members of Taka looked down, dejected.

"Bad news, everybody!" Someone shouted from behind Taka. It was Darui, having returned from his messenger bird check.

"What's going on, Darui?" the Raikage asked.

"Well, I checked the messenger bird folders, and I did _**not**_ find anything regarding a pardon for Sasuke Uchiha! Sorry man!"

"No way!" Suigetsu and Karin shouted in unison.

"Imagine that." the Raikage smirked. "It seems like you have a one-way ticket to Hidden Cloud Prison!"

"Not so fast!" Sasuke objected. "With the information we have now, the absence of my pardon letter means something completely different! Raikage, you said Fuzai retired to _messenger bird_ duty, right?"

"Yes I did…"

"That means they could be sabotaging your communications with the other countries." Sasuke accused. "If my pardon letter arrived during his shift, then he could have taken it away or destroyed it before anyone would have known about it."

"That isn't entirely true…" Darui objected. "The letters that messenger birds carry are super-durable and resist all sorts of damage, since they have to be able to withstand any kind of environment on the way to their destination. So they can't be destroyed. Not without making a big enough spectacle that you attract the whole village, anyway…"

"So you're saying Sasuke's pardon letter has to have been taken away and not destroyed?" Jugo asked.

"Assuming it exists? Yeah." Darui answered. "Sorry, Boss, but I believe we have enough to warrant a search of Fuzai's apartment."

"I agree with that…" the Raikage said, "… but I want Uchiha and his _gang_ to be the ones to do the searching. They're the ones claiming Uchiha's been pardoned and Fuzai's guilty of treason, so it's only fair for them to find the evidence they need on their own!"

"Thank you so much!" Sasuke went down on his left knee and bowed, placing his arm on his right knee.

 _Leaf ninja and their bowing…_ the Raikage thought. "I'm warning you though! If you don't find the evidence you need and bring it to me in twenty-four hours, then I'll indict the lot of you for trespassing! And Darui!"

"Yes, Boss?"

"I want you to go with them as an observer. I can't trust anything they dig up without one of my right arms watching over them!"

"We accept those conditions." Sasuke said.

Darui proceeded to release the rest of Taka from their handcuffs and then escorted the whole team to Fuzai's apartment.


	11. Chapter 10: Seeing Through Deception

When Taka and Darui made their way to Fuzai's apartment, they found the door locked and Darui began knocking.

"Yo, Fuzai! It's Darui, let me in." Darui said as he knocked on the door several times.

"Karin." Sasuke whispered behind the Kunoichi, prompting her to look back at him in the eyes.

[X-X-X]

"What?" Karin asked.

Suddenly Suigetsu, Jugo, and Darui disappeared before her eyes and the hall was filled with cherry blossoms.

"What's going on, Sasuke?"

"Relax, it's just a Genjutsu. I needed to tell you something without risking Fuzai overhearing it." Sasuke explained.

"What do you have to say?"

"Don't try to detect Fuzai's lies. If you did that, then Fuzai would know right away we suspect him and might get hostile. I'd like this to end without any blood being shed if possible."

"Okay…"

Suddenly, Karin was snapped back to her senses from the outside.

[X-X-X]

"Quit spacing out, Karin! Someone's greeting us!" Suigetsu said as he bonked her upside the head. She came out of her trance to find everyone was next to her, the cherry blossoms were gone, the door was open, and on the other side was a man. He was a little shorter than Darui and had a similar skin tone, but his hair was brown instead. Karin could also see a goatee.

 _So this is Fuzai…_ Karin thought.

"Whoa, Darui! Why are Sasuke Uchiha and his gang with you, and not carted off to jail?!" Fuzai asked.

"Sorry if you didn't know until now, but it seems like these guys have all been pardoned!" Darui explained. "But the letter the Hidden Leaf sent to tell us about it has gone missing. They want to check your room to see if you happen to be the one who stole it…"

"If that's the case, then couldn't you be the thief too? You have a messenger bird shift as well…"

Darui started sweating at the accusation.

"Actually…" Sasuke interjected as he stepped forward, "… we already checked Darui's room under the Raikage's supervision and couldn't find it. Once he was cleared of suspicion, the Raikage had Darui observe us checking everyone else with a messenger bird shift. You're the last one."

 _I hope you know what you're doing lying like that, Sasuke…_ Karin thought.

"What happens if you don't find the letter in my room?" Fuzai asked.

"Then the Raikage will rule that the letter doesn't exist and we all go to prison." Sasuke answered, deliberately omitting the 24 hour time limit.

Fuzai smiled. "Since it matters that much, search to your hearts' content."

At that moment, all the members of Taka entered Fuzai's apartment and looked desperately for the pardon scroll while Darui remained with Fuzai at the doorway to watch. The apartment was a one-room complex with a bed, bookshelf, small kitchen, and a closet; Fuzai would have to exit his room to use the toilet. Suigetsu took the kitchen because he was able to clean out appliances and check underneath them by turning into water. Since the scroll was virtually indestructible he didn't have to worry about it getting damaged from being wet. Karin took the bookshelf since she was the warden for Orochimaru's Southern Hideout and thus had lots of experience sorting through paperwork. Jugo took the closet since he was the tallest and thus could reach shelves that the others couldn't. That left Sasuke with the bed. The four members of Taka diligently searched their respective areas for any signs of the pardon scroll, but they weren't able to find anything noteworthy.

Until, that is, Jugo found something in the top shelf of Fuzai's closet. It was a small, locked strongbox.

"Sorry, but we've got to see what's in that box, Fuzai." Darui said. "You must have the key; open it up."

Fuzai was stiff for a brief moment, and then checked his pockets. "Looks like I misplaced my key…"

"Sorry, but I have to know for sure." Darui then took Fuzai just outside his room. "I'll have to do a full-body."

Following this, there were some unpleasant sounds coming from just outside the room. Sasuke turned his head away. Jugo crossed his arms in disbelief. Suigetsu inched a little closer in an attempt to watch. Karin pulled Suigetsu away from the doorway while giggling inside.

A minute later, Darui and Fuzai returned into the room, the full-body search complete.

"Sorry guys, but it looks like Fuzai really _did_ misplace his key. I couldn't find it on him anywhere." Darui sighed.

"Looks like you won't be able to see what's inside it, will you?" Fuzai expressed in a dopey fashion.

"Not having a key is no problem for me!" Karin exclaimed. To everyone's surprise, Karin took off her glasses, fiddled with its arms a little, and out came a silver lock pick.

"You have a lock pick hidden in your glasses?!" Suigetsu wondered, the shock apparently bursting his head into water.

"How do you think I escaped the Hidden Leaf's interrogation chambers to meet up with you guys in the war? Brute force?! I am _**far**_ too refined for such ugly methods!"

Everyone's jaws dropped simultaneously.

"And the best part is this lock pick is coated in the Uzumaki clan's high-vitality chakra, so it won't break no matter how many locks I pick with it!" Karin then walked up to the strongbox with her lock pick in tow: "One exposed secret, coming right up!"

With swiftness that no one could believe, Karin picked the lock on the strongbox, put the lock pick back in her glasses, and opened the strongbox. What Karin saw was not the pardon scroll however; it was a book. Before Karin could open the book up to read it, however, Fuzai rushed to pick it up instead.

"There's no scroll here, see? Only my diary." Fuzai said as he quickly flipped through all its pages, the pages facing Taka and Darui. Sasuke stared intently at the spectacle.

"Guess the letter wasn't here…" Jugo said.

Darui hung his shoulders. "Sorry we invaded on your privacy like that, Fuzai. And you know what this means, right, Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Yes. I've been playing you for a fool, Darui; the scroll doesn't actually exist. Take us to the Hidden Cloud's prison immediately." Sasuke instructed.

"It looks like your vacation from jail time is over, scum." Fuzai said, looking at Sasuke as Darui led everyone out of Fuzai's apartment and into the Hidden Cloud Village's prison, if for no other reason than to keep up with Sasuke's charade.

[X-X-X]

"What the fuck was up with all that _bullshit_ , Sasuke?!" Suigetsu protested from inside their prison cell.

"I also fail to understand what's going on." Jugo added.

"I'm sure he had some sort of plan. You had a plan, right, Sasuke?" Karin objected with worry.

"It was a stupid plan if it managed to land us in jail _**faster!**_ " Suigetsu shouted.

"Calm down, everyone." Darui commanded. "Give him a chance to explain."

With that, everyone turned towards Sasuke at once, hoping for a satisfactory explanation.

"This prison sentence is fake." Sasuke said. "Darui only brought us here to keep up with my lie at the start of our investigation of Fuzai's apartment."

"What good did that lie _do_ , huh?" Suigetsu asked, still frustrated.

"I don't know how all three of you didn't notice, but at the end there, Fuzai pretty much _confessed to being the thief._ "

" _ **What?!**_ " Suigetsu and Karin shouted in unison while Jugo and Darui stumbled back in shock.

"What do you mean?" Darui asked.

"You'd have no way of knowing this, Darui, but in the letter announcing my pardon, it says to treat me like I'm on a _vacation_." Sasuke explained.

Darui's jaw dropped.

"And Fuzai just said my vacation was over." Sasuke continued. "Only someone who read the contents of the scroll would refer to my pardon as a _vacation_."

Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo all gasped.

"Why would Fuzai do that though?" Jugo asked.

"It's simple. He was gloating." Sasuke explained. "Because of what I said at the start, he was under the impression that if we didn't find my pardon scroll in his apartment, then he would get away with the theft. Saying my vacation is over was Fuzai's way of rubbing his 'victory' in our faces."

"So that was just Fuzai's way of saying ' _I win, bitches!_ '?" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke nodded. "Pretty much."

"But why did you tell that lie in the first place, Sasuke?" Karin wondered.

"Because I expected that we wouldn't find the scroll in Fuzai's apartment to begin with."

Sasuke's revelation shocked everyone into silence.

"Come on! Orochimaru trusted Fuzai with being an undercover agent in the Hidden Cloud Chunin Exams for five years; he wouldn't be so stupid as to leave such valuable pieces of evidence lying around in _his own house._ "

"So you lied to lull Fuzai into a false sense of security, hoping he'd slip up where he hid the scroll." Darui concluded. "What a snake."

"I was taught by one." Sasuke retorted.

"But we still don't know where Fuzai hid the scroll!" Suigetsu pointed out.

"And without it, Fuzai's confession is weightless." Jugo added.

Karin's eyes widened with an epiphany. "I just thought of something, guys! What if Fuzai wrote the location of the scroll in his diary?!"

Suigetsu shook his head. "That's impossible! He wouldn't have showed us the diary in the first place if that were the case!"

"He didn't really show you the contents though, did he?" Sasuke asked rhetorically.

Suigetsu gasped. "He flipped the pages so fast none of us could see what was written there…"

"And he did seem to panic when Karin revealed her lock pick…" Jugo added.

"Even before that, Fuzai made sure there was no key to the strongbox, hoping we couldn't open it." Sasuke further added.

"But didn't he just misplace it?" Darui wondered.

"Orochimaru's mole wouldn't be that clumsy." Sasuke objected. "More than likely, he vaporized the key with Silent Lightning right before you searched him."

"Then we just need to go back there and swipe Fuzai's diary!" Karin declared.

Darui sighed. "It's too late for that. He thinks you four are in prison, but I could have come to this conclusion on my own and asked Fuzai to see it in detail at any time. To avoid that, he's probably already destroyed his diary. Sorry…"

"What are we supposed to do without Fuzai's diary?!" Suigetsu shouted.

"We don't need it, Suigetsu. While you guys might not have been able to see the diary's contents, _**I**_ was." Sasuke pointed at his own right eye as he finished.

"The Sharingan?" said Karin.

"One of its abilities, and the first I learned about, is _perfect visual recall._ " Sasuke explained. "It's what allowed Kakashi to copy over one thousand techniques; he played jutsu over and over again in his head until he could reproduce them on his own. And I just used that ability… to read Fuzai's entire diary."

Everyone else was speechless.

"Tell us already, then! Where did Fuzai hide the scroll?!" Suigetsu shouted.

"Fuzai talks about the scroll directly on the latest page." Sasuke said. "Here's what's written on it:"

 _Dear Lord Orochimaru:_

 _Today I saw two very intriguing scrolls during messenger bird duty. One of them talked about Sasuke Uchiha's pardon. Another one was from the land of Iron mentioning two prison escapees. When I saw them a brilliant plan hatched in my head. Every time during my shift, I would check all the folders for any important messages from the other countries, and I would steal them all away, starting with these two. I would hide the scrolls in our old rendezvous point so that nobody would find them._

 _Why am I doing this, you ask? Because the Raikage's a paranoid fool. Eventually, the lack of information coming his way will begin to make him suspect that the other nations are locking the Hidden Cloud out of the loop, and distrust them all. This would lead to the start of a Fifth Ninja World War, with the Hidden Cloud against everyone else. While the Hidden Cloud might be the strongest individual village, the combined might of all other members of the Shinobi Alliance would overwhelm it and see the Hidden Cloud destroyed._

 _My Lord, you will be given the chaos you so desperately crave, while my revenge against the Hidden Cloud will finally be complete!_

"Fuzai wants to… destroy the Hidden Cloud Village… from the inside?" Darui asked.

"There's no mistaking it, Darui." Sasuke confirmed. "Inside Fuzai's heart is a _hatred_ for your village so strong that he's willing to kick-start another _World War_ in order to get his revenge…" Sasuke couldn't help but reflect on the time where he went to almost the same extremes, getting lost in regretful thought…

"Enough dwelling on the past, Sasuke!" Karin shouted as she punched Sasuke in the face, knocking him back to the task at hand. "We have a scroll to find!"

"You're right… where were we?" Sasuke asked.

"Fuzai said that the scrolls were at his and Orochimaru's _rendezvous point._ " Jugo pointed out.

"And we've got to know where that is." Suigetsu added.

"Of course. That's answered in the first page of Fuzai's diary." Sasuke explained. "Here's what was written:"

 _Dear Lord Orochimaru:_

 _Last night you told me we could no longer be in contact for my own protection, since you became internationally wanted after the Fourth Kazekage's body was discovered, but I believe there is more going on that you won't tell me. Nevertheless, I carried out one of your final orders as instructed: I caved in the entrance to our rendezvous point at Two Lights Valley to prevent anyone from getting in there and discovering our former partnership._

 _However, I simply cannot accomplish the other order you gave me, to forget you entirely and pretend like we've never seen each other. On the surface, I accomplish just that thanks to your training me to be a mole, but to deal with the stress that comes from not seeing you I have started writing in this diary, which I will address to you every time I put forth a new entry. I will also quit being an active ninja, since without you to benefit from them the Hidden Cloud Village does not deserve to use my skills. I will, however, volunteer to watch over the messenger birds, just in case you decide to give me a call._

 _My Lord, please contact me again…_

"So Fuzai only began writing this when Orochimaru cut ties with him…" Jugo said.

"And Fuzai's grudge with the Hidden Cloud was around since even before then…" Sasuke added.

"At any rate, we now know the scrolls are being held in Two Lights Valley, wherever that is…" Karin pointed out.

Darui gasped. "Two Lights Valley… Fuzai met Orochimaru _**there?!**_ "

"What's so special about Two Lights Valley?" Suigetsu wondered.

Darui's expression turned grim: "In case you didn't know, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the Gold and Silver brothers, are sometimes referred to as the Two Lights. _Two Lights Valley_ is where Kinkaku and Ginkaku became famous… it's where they fought the Nine Tailed Fox!"


	12. Chapter 11: Two Lights Valley

"Can you go into more detail about Two Lights Valley?" Sasuke asked.

Darui looked down in reflection. "Yeah... A very long time ago, shortly after the Hidden Cloud Village was first created, the Gold and Silver brothers tried to capture the Nine-Tailed Fox for the village. But the Nine-Tails swallowed them whole during their fight. They managed to survive inside the Nine-Tails for two weeks by consuming the insides of the Nine-Tails' flesh. Eventually Kinkaku and Ginkaku caused the Nine-Tails enough internal damage that it suffered indigestion and barfed the brothers back out. Two Lights Valley is the place where the Nine-Tails did the barfing, and the Gold and Silver Brothers were discovered to be still alive."

Karin and Suigetsu were taken aback in disgust.

"What I don't understand is how Fuzai and Orochimaru could even meet there…" Darui continued. "The place is a restricted area…"

"Restricted how?" Jugo asked.

"There's a barrier around the valley's perimeter. Only the current Raikage can pass through it unheeded. If anyone else tries to cross the barrier, the Raikage would be summoned inside it to take care of any intruders. This was in place ever since the First Raikage and one of his right arms, C's ancestor, discovered it. Along with Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the Nine-Tails also puked out some of its body fluids, which formed into a pool at the base of the valley. C's ancestor could sense the Nine-Tails' chakra in that pool. After recovering Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the First Raikage placed a barrier around that pool in order to protect the village, believing that if the Nine-Tails were to die, it would reunite with its chakra there. And when the Gold and Silver Brothers defected, the First Raikage reinforced the barrier in order to make sure they and anyone else couldn't use more of the Nine-Tails' chakra for their own gain."

"But the First Raikage is long dead. How does the valley remain protected?" Sasuke wondered.

"Glad you asked." Darui responded. "Every time a new Raikage is chosen, they are required to dispel the barrier and put it up again under their own protection. It's even part of the inauguration process."

"So the barrier can be dispelled!" Karin's eyes lit with excitement.

Darui shook his head. "It's not that simple. The knowledge to dispel the barrier is only taught from one Raikage to the next. In order to dispel the barrier yourself, you'd have to become the next Raikage."

"That isn't the only way." Sasuke objected. "You could become the next Raikage, sure… but you could also call on the help of a _previous_ one."

"But all the previous Raikage are dead!"

"You're forgetting who we're dealing with."

Darui gasped in shock at Sasuke's implication. "Kabuto Yakushi _did_ revive the Third Raikage for the war…"

"So it's possible that Orochimaru revived the Third Raikage and made him dispel the barrier." Jugo said.

"But how would Orochimaru know he'd need a Raikage in order to dispel the barrier in the first place?" Darui asked.

"That would be because of Fuzai." Sasuke answered. "The first time they met was probably just outside the barrier. Orochimaru would be curious about what was inside, but would need a Cloud ninja's insider knowledge to dispel the barrier. That's where Fuzai comes in; he'd spy on the Hidden Cloud for information about how to dispel the barrier, and would return with the info."

"And since the Third Raikage was the most recent to die," Karin added, "His DNA would be the easiest to find for the _Impure World Resurrection_ technique!"

"I suppose Two Lights Valley is also where Kinkaku's and Ginkaku's DNA were found…" Darui said, reflecting on his battle with them during the war.

"But if Fuzai helped Orochimaru dispel the barrier as his first job for him, then just how long has Two Lights Valley been unprotected?!" Suigetsu asked in panic.

"At least nine years." Sasuke said. "Fuzai was spying on Hidden Cloud and Hidden Mist Chunin Exams for five years until Orochimaru's attempted destruction of the Hidden Leaf, which was four years ago. That means nine years minimum of Two Lights Valley being unguarded… and the Hidden Cloud Village being completely unaware."

"And since the Raikage not being summoned away implied nothing was going on at Two Lights Valley…" Jugo added.

"…That makes it the _perfect spot_ for Fuzai and Orochimaru to meet up!" Karin concluded.

"At any rate, we have to go to Two Lights Valley as soon as possible!" Suigetsu exclaimed.

"Not just yet." Sasuke objected. "First, we need to make sure Fuzai is occupied; he'd catch on to our lie if he saw us running out of the village. Karin, search for Fuzai's chakra!"

"Got it!"

At that moment, Karin closed her eyes and made a hand seal, focusing on her _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique. After a few seconds…

"So where is he?!" Suigetsu asked Karin.

"Wherever he is… he's _**not**_ in the village! I can't find his chakra!"

"Then he's already headed for Two Lights Valley himself, I take it." Sasuke deduced. "While we were talking, he probably tried to verify my story with another person with a messenger bird shift and found out I was lying. On top of that, he's likely figured out that I read his diary by now."

"So he's gone to Two Lights Valley ahead of us to put himself between us and the scrolls…" Darui sighed. "I'm so sorry this all had to happen…"

"There's still a way out of this, worrywart!" Suigetsu shouted. "We just head over there and kick Fuzai's ass! Then he can't stop us from finding the scrolls!"

"And since Fuzai isn't in the village, there's nothing stopping us from heading over there right now!" Karin added.

Darui took a deep breath. "You're right, guys. Sorry for being so dull just now. Here's something to help with the trip."

Darui put a hand in his back pouch and took out five soldier pills, handing one to each member of Taka and keeping one for himself.

"These will keep you from getting tired from anything but extreme chakra exhaustion for three days, and to make it to Two Lights Valley and back on time we'll need to be running the whole way. So eat up." Darui finished as he placed is own soldier pill in his mouth and swallowed it whole. All of Taka followed suit.

"Follow me, everyone!" Darui exclaimed as he opened the door to Taka's shared prison cell and began running with Taka just behind him, careful not to bump into anyone nearby on their way out.

[X-X-X]

By the time Taka and Darui reached Two Lights Valley, it was nighttime. Despite the darkness of the night sky, however, the location was fairly bright thanks to the thunderstorm unfolding in front of them. In the distance, Sasuke could see the lightning all coming from a pool of some sort of red liquid, which Sasuke assumed was the Nine-Tails' body fluids that Darui told him about. He could also see a faint outline of a person's body inside the pool, arms raised. It was only natural that Sasuke reasoned that the person in the Nine-Tails' body fluids was Fuzai, since the lightning coming out from the pool was completely silent. But there was something else peculiar about this storm of lightning.

The lightning was red.

"Look, Darui! I've done it!" Fuzai shouted. "I've bathed in the Nine-Tails' body fluids! The power that was once the Gold and Silver Brothers' is now _**mine!**_ "

"Don't you realize what you've done?!" Darui shouted back. "If you return to the village now, C will sense the Nine-Tails in you and arrest you for trespassing on Two Lights Valley! Even if you kill us all and stop us from retrieving the scroll, you're still going to find yourself in the slammer!"

"As if I care about my own life! Ha! A life without Lord Orochimaru is not worth living! I'm going to dry up this whole lake and use the Nine-Tails' power to destroy myself and take all of you with me! Beginning with you, _**Sasuke Uchiha!**_ "

At that moment, several red streaks of lightning curved towards Taka and Darui, primarily aimed at Sasuke. Sasuke and Darui dodged them by jumping to the right; the others all jumped to the left, splitting the group in two.

"Damn. He must blame me for taking Orochimaru away from him." Sasuke said as he dodged a few more lightning strikes.

"Is there anything we can do to stop Fuzai before he kills himself?!" Darui asked while dodging even more lightning strikes.

"I… have something in mind." Sasuke said as he recalled a move he witnessed a long time ago, still dodging lightning. "But I need to get in close. Can you draw the lightning away?"

"There is a jutsu I can use to do that, yeah! But I have to be standing still. You mind splitting up so I can have some breathing room? He's only targeting you."

"Sure."

Sasuke broke away from Darui as a red lightning bolt struck in between them. Sasuke then started running in a circle around Fuzai, keeping the lightning away from Darui.

Darui proceeded to draw his Cleaver Sword and hold it up in the air with both hands:

" _ **Storm Style: Lightning Rod Sabre!**_ "

A bright blue light enveloped his sword and then shot into the sky, remaining a thin pillar on the battlefield. This bright blue pillar attracted all of Fuzai's Red Silent Lightning strikes and kept them spinning around it. This made it appear like Darui was holding a skyscraper-length sword made of red light.

Fuzai gasped. "No! Not _**that**_ jutsu!"

 _I have to disable Darui and get rid of that Lightning Rod Sabre right now!_ Fuzai thought as he left the pool and began running straight toward Darui, enveloped in a red chakra cloak with fox ears and one tail.

"That's not who you should be worried about!" someone shouted from Fuzai's left. He turned 90 degrees to find Sasuke running in at a speed his eyes could just barely comprehend, preparing to throw a punch. Unfortunately for Fuzai, while his eyes might have been able to keep up with Sasuke, his body couldn't, and so Sasuke was free to land a blow.

During his punch, however, Sasuke opened up his fist, and a small purple flame manifested on each of Sasuke's five fingers. All five fingers made contact with Fuzai's abdomen at the same time evenly spaced apart, surrounding Fuzai's navel, and removed Fuzai's chakra cloak upon contact.

" _ **Five Pronged Seal!**_ " Sasuke shouted. Fuzai lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground moments afterwards. Sasuke sat down next to him.

"Now to release it!" Darui exclaimed as he brought the Lightning Rod Sabre down in between Sasuke and the rest of Taka, with liberal room away from each. The sword of red light cut a faraway mountain in half on its way down, and the red lightning along with the blue pillar underneath faded away a second or so after it reached the ground.

"He… cut a _**mountain**_ in half…" Suigetsu said as he looked on in shock and awe.

"I guess you were lucky there were no _**thunderstorms**_ during the Kage Summit, huh!" Karin grinned.

Suigetsu started to shiver. "Sure was…"

"The battle seems to be over." Jugo said as he pointed out Fuzai's unconscious body. "Let's regroup."

Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo proceeded to run over to Darui's position, who himself walked over to Sasuke.

"How did you cut that mountain in half?!" Suigetsu asked.

Darui put the Cleaver Sword away. "I used Lightning Rod Sabre. It's a move where I draw in any lightning from the environment or either side of the battle, and unleash all the collected power at once. It's intended to be used in large-scale fights where you sit in the back and let your allies keep enemies at bay until you draw enough power to cut through a huge number at once, and since you have to be stationary to use it it's typically not useful in low-numbers combat. But there was a use for it this time, because I had to draw Fuzai's lightning away from Sasuke so he could get in close to use his sealing jutsu."

"Can you teach it to me, please?! I have a natural weakness to lightning and would love a way to get around it!"

"Sorry, my man. It's limited to those who have the Storm Style Kekkei Genkai."

"Dammit!"

"At any rate, now we can search the place for the scrolls." Jugo interjected, hoping to get the mission back on track.

Sasuke shook his head, and then looked down at the unconscious Fuzai. "You guys go on ahead. There are some things I need to discuss with him."

"Alright. We'll find the scrolls quickly." Jugo said as he, Karin, Suigetsu, and Darui moved closer to the pool of the Nine-Tails' body fluids, careful not to touch it as they searched for the scrolls.

[X-X-X]

Fuzai woke up to find himself lying in the dirt. He quickly sat up and looked around, finding Sasuke a little to his right, sitting on his left leg with his arm on his raised right knee.

"So you're finally awake?" Sasuke asked, moving his gaze to Fuzai's direction.

"Get away from me!" Fuzai screamed as he thrust his arms toward Sasuke, hands open. He expected something to come out of them, but nothing did. Fuzai panicked. "Huh?! Why doesn't the lightning come out?!"

"It's no use trying to fight back anymore. With that seal on your belly your chakra control is so poor I doubt you'd even be able to _climb a tree_ , much less shoot lightning out of your hands."

Fuzai immediately looked down to find five Kanji tattooed around his navel. "Why do you know this abominable jutsu?!"

"You're not going to like the answer… It was Orochimaru. I saw him use the Five Pronged Seal to disable a friend of mine, the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki in fact. You were covered in the Nine-Tails' chakra. The similarities of the situations inspired me."

Fuzai keeled back in horror. Then he got up and tried to run away. Sasuke zoomed past Fuzai and cut off his path:

"It's no use running either. It's clear from our last exchange that I'm a good deal faster than you."

"Then what am I supposed to do?!" Fuzai shouted.

Sasuke sat back down.

"I suggest you sit down and answer my questions." Sasuke spoke in a welcoming tone. "It'll be refreshing to finally get all your anger out of your system. You've been hiding your troubles from the world for a long time, but now that can finally end. You don't need to suffer in silence anymore; I'm willing to listen to your story."

"It'll take a while to tell…" Fuzai's voice trailed off into silence.

"That's fine." Sasuke said as he motioned for Fuzai to sit down with his hand. "We have all night."


	13. Chapter 12: Reminder of a Mistake

"Let's start from the beginning." Sasuke said as Fuzai at down across from him. "What happened to make you hate the Hidden Cloud so much?"

Fuzai looked up at the stars, reflecting. "It all starts with my father's death. It happened fourteen years ago today, you know…"

"Today… That's December 27th isn't it?" Sasuke asked. _Hinata's birthday? What a coincidence._ He thought.

Fuzai nodded. "Yeah, December 27th. I read in your pardon scroll that you're a Leaf ninja, so you probably know my father best as the Hidden Cloud ambassador for Hidden Leaf peace negotiations. But that was just a front for his _real_ mission, to kidnap the heiress of the Hyuga clan and steal her Byakugan."

"But your father failed, obviously. Said heiress ended up in my Academy class years later."

 _So it wasn't a coincidence at all; Fuzai's father planned to kidnap Hinata on her third birthday._ Sasuke thought.

Fuzai gritted hit teeth. "He didn't just fail. He was caught in the act and killed! I still can't believe how it was possible! My father was a master of Silent Lightning and the Hidden Cloud's infiltrations expert!"

"Your father messed with the wrong clan. No matter how quiet he was, there's no sneaking up on someone that can see you coming from over a kilometre away and from any direction. That's the kind of power the Byakugan has; your father never stood a chance."

"The Byakugan really has that kind of power?"

"That's not all. A few Hyuga can also halt chakra flow or even kill an opponent with a single touch, since some Byakugan can see chakra points. Combined with its range of vision, the Hyuga are a dangerous clan for _anyone_ to face. They call themselves the _Strongest Clan in the Hidden Leaf_. And while I'd disagree with the notion and say that my own Uchiha Clan was the strongest before it was destroyed, I have to admit that the Hyuga at least have a _valid_ claim to the title."

"That… makes my father's death easier to accept. Thanks."

"So how does your father's death relate to your hatred for the Hidden Cloud?"

"My father didn't just lose his life that day. He also lost his _reputation_ ; he went from being the greatest infiltrator of the Hidden Cloud to its greatest _failure_. And because of that, I was constantly ridiculed. The other kids in my class bullied me and the adults would turn their heads away and pretend I didn't even exist. But at least I had my mother, so I was able to keep going."

"What happened to your mother?"

"She had it even worse than I did… On top of being harassed by everyone in the village for being a widow to the Hidden Cloud's greatest failure, she also had to raise perpetually-depressed me all on her own… There was only so much pressure she could take before she broke, and in two years, she finally had enough… and killed herself to end her suffering."

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. "That's horrible…"

Fuzai shook his head. "It wasn't horrible for her. She no longer had to feel any pain… but it was twice as bad for me. Not only was I the son of a failure, I was the son of a weakling to boot! The village just swung at me even harder! And without my mother, I was totally alone… One day it got so bad that I ran away… not that anyone cared when I left… and that's when I met _him._ "

"Orochimaru?"

"Yeah… We met at this very spot, just outside where the barrier used to be. I didn't recognize him as from the village, so I asked him to help me with my problems… He told me that just wallowing in despair wouldn't change anything… that I needed to strike back at my aggressors if I ever hoped for them to stop. So that's what I did when I returned to the village; I fought back the next time one of my classmates tried to bully me. After a few times, the bullies stopped, and while the adults still wanted nothing to do with me, I was able to go to school without fear of getting hurt… I was _happy_ for the first time in two years. I wanted to repay Lord Orochimaru for helping me, so I returned here, and here he was. He was very curious as to what was behind the barrier, and to repay his kindness he asked me to spy on the Hidden Cloud for any way of dispelling it."

"That's what we figured your first job was."

"Once I accomplished it, I came back here again. Lord Orochimaru asked me if I was perfectly content with how my life was in the Hidden Cloud, and I said no; the other kids didn't bug me anymore, but the adults still ignored me. He then told me that I wouldn't be totally satisfied until I had my revenge on the whole village…"

"And you believed him?"

"At first I thought it was nonsense, but one day I pulled a prank on a teacher in the academy… and I liked it. I convinced myself that what I enjoyed about the other kids not bullying me wasn't finally having their _respect_ , but having their _fear_. And I felt like I could never quite get enough of that feeling… So I came back here again and told Lord Orochimaru I wanted my complete revenge after all."

"And he had a plan so you could do just that?"

"It was a fairly simple one… All I had to do was become strong enough to enter the Chunin Exams and deliberately fail them around the halfway point. Then I would meet with Lord Orochimaru after the exam and inform him about all the exceptional ninja that took it. After that, Lord Orochimaru would take care of the rest, using my information to abduct young ninja to build his empire. When it became strong enough he promised he'd use it to attack the village. After two years I managed to graduate from the Academy and a year after that my team's leader saw fit to apply my team for the Chunin Exams, so I could start our plan in earnest…"

"And was it during those Chunin Exams that you learned about Suigetsu?" Sasuke asked, hoping to confirm Suigetsu's suspicions.

"I guess you already figured that out, huh… Suigetsu Hozuki, your white-haired friend, was the highlight of my second exam. He became a Genin at an unusually early age and had a distinct disadvantage against the Cloud Village's Lightning Style users, but had enough skill and talent to overcome that hurdle and reach the finals. That boy's a real genius alright. But he was going on and on about making his big brother Mangetsu proud, and that was something that could be taken advantage of. Naturally, I told Lord Orochimaru about him after the exam and about his closeness to Mangetsu, and Lord Orochimaru devised a plan to acquire Suigetsu that he needed my help for."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "That was killing Mangetsu, and you charged Nashiken's kunai with Silent Lightning."

"Exactly. In between dispelling the barrier around this place and caving in our rendezvous point that was the only time I had to do something for Lord Orochimaru that wasn't spying on the Chunin Exams."

"But your spying ended when Orochimaru attacked the Hidden Leaf Village."

Fuzai grinned. "You read my diary, so you already know that much. You defected to Lord Orochimaru after that. Can you tell me why he stopped seeing me?"

"There were a number of factors. First, what you wrote in your diary was true. The Hidden Sand discovering the Fourth Kazekage's dead body and pinning Orochimaru as the murderer made him wanted internationally; before that he was only wanted in the Land of Fire. That made travelling to the Hidden Cloud more dangerous for everyone involved. Second, Orochimaru's arms were sealed away by the Third Hokage during his attack, which weakened him to the point that Kabuto had to be at Orochimaru's side almost constantly. That made travelling long distances physically difficult. And lastly…"

"Yes?"

"Lastly, Orochimaru was putting the bulk of his resources into recruiting, and then training, _me._ I only agreed to join Orochimaru on the condition that he personally trained me to become strong enough to defeat my brother Itachi, so I took up the vast majority of his time for the four years between his attack on the Hidden Leaf and now. If you targeted me first because you blame me for taking Orochimaru away from you, then you'd be right on the mark."

Fuzai was shocked. "That wasn't the reason actually…"

"Then what was it?"

"It was because you foiled my plans for revenge and for Lord Orochimaru to see me again all at once. When I first saw you with Suigetsu Hozuki, I was sure that Lord Orochimaru had sent a team to eliminate me. Rather than watch my revenge unfold with pride, Lord Orochimaru would rather _get rid of me…_ And on top of that, you read my diary with that Sharingan of yours, so you learned where I was hiding the scrolls. You took away the two things I wanted most in the world in one fell swoop."

"I suppose that's also why you abandoned your plans for revenge and tried to kill us all at the cost of your life instead."

"You're right again…"

"You know, Fuzai, there were some parts of the diary in the middle where it seemed like you'd finally moved on." Sasuke revealed. "But all of a sudden you became fanatically obsessed with revenge near the end. What changed?"

"What changed was this huge tree that sprouted all around the village and grabbed me." Fuzai answered.

 _Infinite Tsukiyomi…_ Sasuke thought in response.

"When I was part of that tree, I had this vision." Fuzai said. "I saw myself, Lord Orochimaru, Father, and Mother, all destroying the Hidden Cloud Village together! It was the happiest and most exciting moment of my whole life! … But then I was released from the tree and I realized it was all a dream. The memory of that dream remained though, and it made me realize that I didn't really move on from Lord Orochimaru _or_ revenge… I just bottled those feelings up and ignored them. But thanks to that dream, my feelings came back to the surface with renewed vigor, and I was determined to make that dream as close to a reality as I could! Now though… that dream will never become real… My parents are dead. Lord Orochimaru doesn't want me. And my last hope for revenge was just destroyed… My life might as well be over!"

At that moment, Fuzai pulled a kunai out of his back pouch and pointed it toward himself. Sasuke noticed this and quickly got up and grabbed Fuzai's kunai out of his hand.

"You're not going to die! Not on my watch!" Sasuke declared.

"What point does my life have anymore?!" Fuzai asked in panic. "Everyone I cared about is gone, and they can never be replaced!"

"That might be true, but as long as you're alive you can forge new bonds! They won't replace what you felt for your parents or Orochimaru, but they will have meaning and worth all on their own!"

"Forge new bonds? Please; once the village finds out what I was planning I'll be sent to jail for the rest of my life and no one will want to see me ever again…" Fuzai's voice trailed off into silence.

"That's not true." Sasuke objected. "As long as you're willing to give the world a chance, the world will come to give you a chance as well! Take it from someone who's been there!"

"Name one person willing to do that!"

" _ **Darui!**_ "

Fuzai was speechless.

"During the battle, he was worried about you." Sasuke said. "He wanted to make sure the fight ended without you killing yourself. And he called you out on bathing yourself in the Nine-Tails' chakra because he knew it was a mistake and it could lead to you getting hurt more than you needed to be. And if one person isn't enough, I have another example!"

"And who would that be?" Fuzai asked in a daze.

" _ **Me!**_ " Sasuke pointed to himself. "When I see you, I see another soul tortured by their hatred, like I was once before. I had to pay the price of my hatred by shattering every bond I had or could have made, making the whole world my enemy in the process. Even now, the loss of my left arm is a constant reminder that I destroyed myself in the name of hatred. But it's not too late for you! You can set things right before it gets that ugly. If you come clean and turn yourself in, then the Raikage won't become violent. You'll be able to patch things up with Darui from behind your cell, and if your behaviour is good enough, you just might be granted parole!"

Fuzai was lost in thought. "That's…"

"That's exactly what you should do." Someone interjected. Recognizing the voice, Fuzai turned around to find Darui, with Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo behind him.

"I'll make sure the boss goes easy on you if you come clean." Darui said.

Karin held two scrolls up in the air. "We managed to find them, Sasuke!"

"Let's head back to the village already!" Suigetsu shouted.

"What about Fuzai?" Jugo asked. "He doesn't have a soldier pill."

"I'll take care of that." Sasuke said as proceeded to summon Odaka.

"We'll be flying right behind you. Get in the front with me, Fuzai." Sasuke ordered as he jumped into the pilot seat. Fuzai climbed into shotgun, too exhausted to jump. Darui and the rest of Taka began running back to the Hidden Cloud Village with Sasuke and Fuzai flying right behind them.

[X-X-X]

It took until nine in the morning for Taka to return to the Raikage with Darui, the scrolls, and their culprit, Fuzai. When they reached the Raikage's office, Darui quickly handed over the scrolls, opening them both up for the Raikage to see.

"Well I'll be damned! You really were pardoned! And you came back with a few hours to spare!" the Raikage exclaimed. "I shouldn't have doubted you. But why is Fuzai with you?"

"I… have a confession to make." Fuzai took a deep breath, then confessed to all his crimes he committed for the past twelve years, along with the ones he was planning to do before Sasuke and Darui stopped him.

"Hmm… With so much blood on your hands, you do understand that you will be in prison for a long time, correct? You might even go down in history as the _Second Coming of the Two Lights._ " the Raikage asked.

Fuzai was calm. "The amount of time I'm in prison doesn't matter. I've finally let go of everything that's haunted me over the years and can pay my debt to society."

"Then I'm sentencing you to Life in Prison with a chance at Parole given good behaviour. Darui, take Fuzai to his cell; I wish to speak to Uchiha and his team alone." the Raikage commanded. "And when you're finished, meet me at Two Lights Valley; there's a certain technique I need to teach you."

The Raikage winked as Darui escorted Fuzai out of the office and left earshot.

"… You're making Darui the Fifth Raikage?" Sasuke asked.

The Raikage nodded. "I believe he's earned it. Between defeating the Gold and Silver Brothers and leading the First Division in the war, and helping to clear your name while averting a potential Fifth Ninja World War in the process without any casualties, he's done more than enough to succeed me. And the village already likes him well enough."

"I think he'll meet your expectations." Sasuke smiled. All the other members of Taka nodded their heads in approval as well. "Now if you don't mind, I have a few questions to ask."

"So do I." the Raikage said, surprising Sasuke. "You go first."

"Alright, here's my first question. Are there any Rogue Ninja from your village with the epithet _Desert Maelstrom_ or anything similar?"

"No we do not. You're probably better off checking with the Hidden Sand."

"That's what we thought. Now my second question. We saw Turtle Island swimming away from the Land of Lightning on our way here. Why is that?"

"Ah, that! You see, ever since I became the Fourth Raikage, I banned my brother B from ever leaving the Land of Lightning. I thought I was protecting him doing that, but instead I was just holding him back. I learned the error of my ways during the war, and to make amends I'm letting B travel the world. So he took off on Turtle Island with the Eight-Tails at his side for company on a journey all around the world."

 _With a restriction like that, it's no wonder Killer B used my attack as a means to escape; it's the first time since his brother became Raikage that he was able to leave the country!_ Sasuke thought.

"Now for my final question… This one's more personal than the others. When we first came here yesterday, I couldn't help but notice your left arm is still missing. Why haven't you gotten a replacement from Tsunade yet? Certainly you could use one-"

"I refuse to get it replaced." the Raikage interrupted. "Not having my left arm is a reminder of my mistake."

"What was that mistake?" Sasuke asked.

"Why, it was trying to kill _you,_ Uchiha." the Raikage said.

Sasuke was taken aback.

"When B went missing, I became so angry that I wasn't able to see the truth." The Raikage explained. "I immediately assumed the worst and didn't stop to investigate my brother's disappearance properly. I pride myself on being one of the fastest Shinobi alive, but that anger was making me move _too_ fast; I took my anger out on you the first chance I had. And that was wrong; while you indeed committed several crimes and had some involvement in B's disappearance, the one crime I tried to kill you for - _killing my brother_ \- was one crime you did _**not**_ commit. My rage caused me to attack a man that was innocent of a crime I assumed they were guilty of, and I paid the price with my left arm. That is why I will not get a prosthetic!"

"I… understand. I refused a replacement for my own left arm for more or less the same reason."

This time, it was the Raikage who was taken aback, but he quickly recovered his composure:

"That happens to answer one of the questions I had for you. And it seems like we finally have some common ground! You know what, Sasuke Uchiha? I doubt I'll ever _like_ you considering what you did to my brother, but I think I have come to _respect_ you as a junior member of the No Left Arms club! As a token of good will, I would like to teach you some of the one-armed Nintaijutsu skills I developed since losing my left arm! What do you say?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I appreciate the offer, Raikage, but we really must be going. Our mission demands that we leave for the Hidden Sand Village as quickly as possible."

"That's a shame." the Raikage pouted. "But I'll keep the offer open if you decide to come back when your mission is over!"

"Thank you, sir." Sasuke said as he turned around and headed for the doorway, "Time to find _Desert Maelstrom,_ Taka!"

The other members of Taka followed Sasuke out the door.

"Just one more thing, Uchiha!" the Raikage stood up, prompting Taka to remain idle. "The Land of Iron scroll says that Suigetsu Hozuki and Jugo are still wanted. What do I do about that?"

"You let them travel under my care." Sasuke answered as he turned his head back toward the Raikage. "The Hidden Leaf and Land of Iron are making arrangements to extend Karin's pardon to Suigetsu and Jugo. And don't worry about hard evidence; the proof will be in the mail any day now."


	14. Chapter 13: A Rainy Diversion

It had been two days since Taka left the Hidden Cloud Village on their pursuit of _Desert Maelstrom_ , believed to be a Rogue Ninja from the Hidden Sand Village. Taka only needed one more day's worth of travel on Odaka to enter the Land of Wind, which was far to the south-west of the Land of Lightning. Before Taka could make it to the Land of Wind, however…

"… Could that be it?" Jugo spoke under his breath, hoping no one would hear him. Sasuke, however, saw Jugo's lip movements with his Sharingan and decided to respond.

"What's the matter, Jugo?" Sasuke asked.

"It's just… I know you said to focus on the A-Class targets first, but ever since I saw _Worst Natural Gift_ on the list I couldn't help but think about it at the back of my mind…"

"What are your thoughts?"

"I have an idea who _Worst Natural Gift_ might be…"

"You do?!" Karin and Suigetsu shouted together.

"Let's hear it, then." Sasuke commanded.

"I don't have any names, but I am fairly certain _Worst Natural Gift_ is referring to someone from my clan." Jugo explained. "My clan's Kekkei Genkai forces me to passively take in natural energy. That would qualify as a _Natural Gift_ , wouldn't it?"

"… I guess it would." Sasuke said. Karin and Suigetsu also nodded in agreement.

"Furthermore…" Jugo continued, "… when we take in enough natural energy, we explode in frenzy and kill anyone in our path until that energy is fully depleted… That is a _bad_ gift…"

"Thus _Worst Natural Gift_." Sasuke concluded.

"But is there any proof that Orochimaru was in contact with anyone from your clan besides you, Jugo?" Suigetsu asked.

"I think there might be…" Jugo said. "… That woman we met in Kabuto's hideout. She had a Curse Mark, but was older than all the others…"

"Anko?" Sasuke thought aloud. "You have a point there…"

"Just who the hell are you guys talking about?!" Karin shouted. "I only joined the war _after_ you left Kabuto's hideout, so forgive me for not being able to follow the discussion!"

"Anko Mitarashi." Sasuke clarified. "She was the proctor for the Forest of Death segment of our Chunin Exams. Remember her?"

Karin took a few seconds to jog her memory before responding:

"Oh yeah! She had that annoying tendency to exaggerate all her emotions!"

Suigetsu grinned. "Reminds me of a _certain someone_ I know…"

"No idea who that could be!" Karin promptly backhanded Suigetsu across the face, making his head burst into water. Then she quickly regained her composure. "Anyway, you're saying she had a Curse Mark? How did Anko even know Orochimaru?"

"Anko was Orochimaru's student before he defected from the Hidden Leaf." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu re-solidified his head and stroked his chin. "And Orochimaru branded her with a Curse Mark before he left?"

"Yeah… Jugo, when did you first meet Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked.

"It was after Kimimaro. I learned about Orochimaru from Kimimaro, and when I first saw Kimimaro, he was already wearing Hidden Sound robes… I thought it was strange for Anko to have a Curse Mark at all, since Kimimaro volunteered for testing the Curse Mark before it was applied to anyone else…"

"Wait! There's a contradiction in what you said!" Karin objected, pointing forward at Jugo from her back seat. "You said Kimimaro was the first user of the Curse Mark, but he was already wearing Hidden Sound robes when it happened! The Hidden Sound Village wasn't created until _after_ Orochimaru defected from the Hidden Leaf; before then, the Land of Sound was called the Land of Rice Fields! So that means-"

"Kimimaro wasn't the first bearer of the Curse Mark like you thought, Jugo." Sasuke interrupted. "He was only the first bearer of a Curse Mark _using your enzymes_. Anko's Curse Mark predates Orochimaru meeting you, so logically her Curse Mark has to have been created using the enzymes from someone else."

Karin pumped her fists. "So that's the proof then! We know there has to be a relative of Jugo's that met Orochimaru while he was still a Leaf ninja, and that person is _Worst Natural Gift_!"

"There are still a few things we don't know." Sasuke pointed out. "We still don't know their name, for one. We also have no idea where they might be. But the most troubling thing of all is…"

Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo were all staring in anticipation, wondering what could be worse than not knowing _Worst Natural Gift_ 's location.

"… The most troubling thing is that we don't know why Orochimaru had to stop using that person's enzymes and halt Curse Mark production until Jugo and Kimimaro came along. Whatever happened to that person, Orochimaru deemed them too dangerous for his experiments… and it might relate to why they're _S-Class_ instead of A-Class." Sasuke concluded.

"We can worry about that later!" Karin exclaimed. "Right now we need to head for the Hidden Sand Village and _Desert Maelstrom_!"

"Karin's right, Sasuke." Jugo said. "We can deal with _Worst Natural Gift_ after _Desert Maelstrom_."

"Alright, we keep on course for the Hidden Sand Village." Sasuke declared.

"… Hold on, Sasuke! Aren't you forgetting something?!" Suigetsu asked.

"What would that be?"

"You said Anko was the proctor of _**our**_ Chunin Exams when talking to Karin a minute ago! Care to explain that?!"

"You didn't know? Shortly before Orochimaru's attempt to destroy the Hidden Leaf, Karin and I took the Chunin Exams together. It's where we first met."

Upon the explanation, Suigetsu nearly melted in surprise while Karin got flustered, remembering the event.

"It was so _**romantic!**_ " Karin exploded in ecstasy. "My teammates had already been killed and I was left alone wandering the Forest of Death… when suddenly a wild bear starts chasing me! I run away as fast as I could, but I trip on a tree branch and my glasses fall right off my face! The bear is inches away from swallowing me whole… but a blue blur knocks the bear right out in a single blow! I put on my glasses… and there he is! Sasuke, _**my hero,**_ standing over the bear with the most dashing smile I'd ever seen in my life!"

Karin's expression then suddenly shifted to anger:

"… and then he leaves before I can even thank him properly! Hmph!"

"… not cool, Sasuke." Suigetsu remarked. "Men are supposed to make women _happy_ , not ditch them to run off who knows where!"

At that statement, Sasuke froze in shock, and the Katsuyu fragment started wiggling on his upper back.

"Oh god…" Karin's rage was building. "That's not how you left things with your _**girlfriend**_ back home, is it?!"

A chill went down Sasuke's spine. He couldn't respond before Karin continued.

"You did! Oh my _fucking_ god _**you did!**_ That's it: _screw_ the Hidden Whirlpool Village and _fuck_ training with the Raikage! The first thing you are doing when this mission is over is going _**right back**_ to the Hidden Leaf and _**TELLING HER YOU'RE SORRY, young man!**_ "

"Okay, okay! I'll do it!" Sasuke shouted. "Just please calm down for the moment… Odaka doesn't like loud noise…"

After that, Karin began to settle down, albeit with her posture betraying her anger. Someone, however, couldn't keep their voice down when they made a certain inference:

"Sasuke has a _**GIRLFRIEND?!**_ " Suigetsu screamed.

[X-X-X]

A few hours later, Taka was in close proximity to a massive rain cloud.

"Alright… We just need to pass through the Hidden Rain Village and we'll be on the border to the Land of Wind." Sasuke said, impatient to finally get close to their next destination. "Suigetsu, can you see anything with all this rain?"

Suigetsu looked down to check and immediately shook his head. "No dice. I can't make out anything going on under us."

"What about you, Karin?" Sasuke asked. "Sense anything strange?"

"Actually… Yes!" Karin shouted. "Lots of chakras are… disappearing! Like bleeping right off the radar! One after another, with little break! … I think people are… _dying_ by the second!" Karin's face turned to despair. "It's a bloodbath!"

"What do we do, Sasuke?" Jugo asked, his voice trembling.

"We… ignore it for now. We're already so close to the Land of Wind. I think we should stay on course to find _Desert Maelstrom_ as quickly as possible…"

"No! That's wrong!" Karin objected. "Have you forgotten why you started this mission in the first place?!"

Sasuke's eyes started twitching. "Of course not! I want to become a better person now that I'm not consumed by hatred, and make up for everything wrong that I've done so far!"

"Then you can't ignore this crisis!" Karin shouted. "Remember the Five Kage Summit?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Good, then you remember what you did after you caved the basement in with Susano'o! Suigetsu and Jugo were injured and at the Samurai's mercy, but you didn't care! You demanded to know where Danzo was, and instead of saving your teammates, you _abandoned_ them to chase after your hatred!"

Suigetsu and Jugo were both shocked and appalled to hear that Sasuke knew they needed help and chose not to provide it:

"I guess _someone_ 's not quite as valuable as I thought they were!" Suigetsu crossed his arms and looked away.

"I… might have been wrong about you." Jugo looked down in sorrow.

"Don't hate Sasuke for what he did in the past, guys!" Karin said. "That would go against the point of this mission! If you're going to hate him, hate him for his decision _**right now!**_ Because, _Sasuke_ ," Karin shifted her focus toward the Uchiha, tears beginning to form in her eyes, "if you let innocent people die to pursue your own agenda, then you'll prove without a doubt that despite all your apologies, _**you haven't changed at all!**_ "

Sasuke was taken aback in shock and disbelief at Karin's accusation, but he couldn't argue against it; he knew that what Karin said was the unmistakable truth. It may not be in the name of 'hatred' anymore, but Sasuke was about to sacrifice many people he didn't even know in order to find someone that might not be causing any trouble. In the meantime, people would be suffering for real, and Sasuke would have chosen not to do anything when he could have stopped it. That was the sort of choice Sasuke would have made when he was lost in the darkness, and it was sort of choice he never wanted to make again.

"Sasuke?" Suigetsu and Jugo called for him, their leader having been silent for a nearly a minute contemplating Karin's rant.

"… Change of plans." Sasuke spoke up. "We head down to the Hidden Rain Village and see what's going on! Karin, keep sensing; we'll need to land safely in order to do anything, so find a spot with no nearby chakra!"

"Yes sir!" Karin nodded as she made the seal for her _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique while Odaka started to descend.

[X-X-X]

When Taka landed, it was at the base of a skyscraper with a river running underneath it. Sasuke figured there would not be much solid ground at the base of the village considering how much rain the country received, so there weren't many people nearby, at least not horizontally. What he was not expecting to find, however, was what _was_ surrounding his team.

They were surrounded by stone statues of people, most of which were toppled over.

"I didn't know the Rain Village was into sculpting! From that one time we saw Konan I thought they were more into origami…" Suigetsu remarked.

"I don't think that's it…" Karin objected with worry. "A lot of those disappearing chakras… they were coming from right here."

"So you're saying these aren't stone statues of people but _people turned to stone?_ " Sasuke asked.

Karin nodded. "I think so… But I don't know how that's even possi-"

" _ **Hey, you down there!**_ " someone shouted from far above them as loudly as they could, interrupting Karin and forcing all of Taka to look up. " _ **Come up here! It's not safe below!**_ "

Sasuke could see the source of the voice was someone with long, dark green hair, and from the tone of the voice seemed to be an adult woman. At their instruction all of Taka sent chakra to their feet and began running up the building's wall toward the woman who called them.

All of them except for one.

"What's keeping you, Jugo? Come on!" Suigetsu shouted as he looked back.

"Go on… without me…" Jugo pleaded. "Ever since coming here… I felt like… I could explode… at any moment… and it's approaching that time! I won't have the control to follow you up after I do! So… leave… before I **destroy you all!** … _**GRRRAAGGHH!**_ "

Sasuke nodded. "We'll be back to save you, Jugo. I promise!"

The Uchiha then turned away and headed up for the one calling them with Karin and Suigetsu at his sides.


	15. Chapter 14: Ameko Shinsei

By the time Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu reached the terrace the woman that called them was standing on, Karin's glasses had been soaked by the rain. She gave them a quick rub with her shirt then put them back on. She saw that the woman was fairly tall, over a head taller than Sasuke but not quite as tall as Jugo. Her dark green hair extended down to the middle of her back, her eyes were a muted orange colour, and she was wearing what looked like an Akatsuki cloak, but without the red clouds Karin was accustomed to.

"You're not the team sent from the Hidden Leaf, are you?!" the woman asked in a panic.

Sasuke shook his head. "No, we came here from the Hidden Cloud on our way to the Hidden Sand, but our sensor here," he pointed to Karin, "felt lots of chakra disappearing and we stopped here to see what was going on. But you _are_ expecting Leaf ninja coming here?"

"Yes. I was able to feel the culprit's chakra and could tell that none of the ninja from our village could defeat it, so I ordered the entire village to take refuge in the upper levels and sent messenger birds to all our surrounding Great Nations - the Hidden Leaf, Hidden Sand, and Hidden Rock - detailing the emergency and asking for assistance. The chakras you felt disappear were the last ones we tried to evacuate-"

"Okay, there's a lot of stuff we don't understand, so can you take it slow for us?!" Suigetsu interrupted. "Who are you and why are you in charge of the Hidden Rain Village?!"

"That's not all! Why are you wearing a cloak like the ones Akatsuki wore?!" Karin asked.

"Furthermore…" Sasuke added, "… if you're the Head Ninja of the Hidden Rain, then why aren't you dealing with the culprit yourself?"

"I can answer all your questions. Just please let me explain." the woman said as she sighed, then took a deep breath. "My name is Ameko Shinsei, and I'm the last living member of Akatsuki."

Sasuke prepared to draw his sword.

"Not _that_ Akatsuki. Before they became infamous for kidnapping Jinchuriki and starting the Fourth Ninja World War, Akatsuki began as a resistance group to oppose Hanzo's corrupt rule of this very village. I wear the cloak the original Akatsuki wore in their memory."

"What changed?" Sasuke wondered, letting go.

"Our group was led by a trio of ninja orphaned by the Second Ninja World War: Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan."

Suigetsu freaked out. "Konan?! She was with the group when it went bad! Was Pain a member of the original Akatsuki as well?!"

Ameko sighed. "Pain… is nothing more than an alias Nagato used, so yes. Ultimately, it was Nagato's decision to alter the purpose of Akatsuki after Yahiko died. You see, at one point during the Third Ninja World War, Konan was taken hostage by Hanzo, and Nagato was given the choice to kill Yahiko or see Konan die."

 _Kakashi gave Sakura the same choice during the Bell Test… To think it happened for real…_ Sasuke thought.

"So that choice wouldn't weigh on Nagato's soul, Yahiko made the choice for him and impaled himself on Nagato's kunai. After that, Nagato exploded with rage, rescuing Konan and demolishing Hanzo's entire platoon, although Hanzo himself managed to escape. After that event, Nagato decided to change Akatsuki's purpose. I was only a child back then, but I had the ability to read the feelings and chakra of all the people under the same rain as I was, and through that ability I was watching that event unfold, so I could tell that Nagato's chakra was growing colder and darker and I wanted no part in what was to come. When I told Nagato and Konan I wanted to quit, since I was only good for sensing and it was only limited to when it's raining anyway, they decided I wasn't a threat to their plans and let me leave, but on one condition."

"And that condition was…" Karin wondered.

"That I tell the world that they were dead. In order to make their movements harder to detect, they wanted to give the illusion that all three of the original Akatsuki's leaders were killed, rather than just Yahiko. My direct orders were to go to the Hidden Leaf Village disguised as a refugee and tell a man named Jiraiya that all three of them died in the battle I escaped from."

"Jiraiya?" Sasuke asked.

"They never told me directly, but I could feel that Nagato and Konan loved and respected that man when they said Jiraiya's name. And when I gave Jiraiya my account he was visibly depressed. I believe Jiraiya was Nagato and Konan's, and probably Yahiko's, teacher. It's only natural they'd wanted to fake their deaths then… If Jiraiya ever caught wind of what they were up to, he'd feel responsible and try to stop them. Nagato and Konan didn't want to burden their teacher with that responsibility…"

"But it ended up happening anyway." Sasuke pointed out.

"Yes it did... Jiraiya traced Akatsuki's home base to the Hidden Rain Village and tried to eliminate the leader at the source, initially unaware that Akatsuki's leader was his very own student. And Jiraiya lost his life in battle against 'Pain'… But he was able to send a dying message to the Hidden Leaf, and thanks to that, Naruto Uzumaki, Jiraiya's new student, was able to defeat Nagato."

"But if you quit Akatsuki and left the Hidden Rain, then why are you here now?" Karin asked.

"After I heard that Nagato was defeated and Konan defected from Akatsuki, I returned to the Hidden Rain Village wondering why. Konan told me Nagato's belief in peace was restored thanks to his battle with Naruto Uzumaki, and Konan left to support Nagato's will. She welcomed me back to the Hidden Rain, and asked me to help prepare her for a fight with Akatsuki's new leader that she expected would happen."

"That leader being Tobi, otherwise known as Obito Uchiha." Sasuke remarked.

"When preparations were finished, Konan told me that if she failed, the Shinobi Alliance needed to know what information she gathered on Tobi during her time with Akatsuki; namely, that he couldn't be intangible and absorb objects at the same time, and that his intangibility only lasted for five minutes. I was sent away to Shinobi Alliance HQ to relay the news. When I did so, Chief Tactician Shikaku Nara and Supreme Commander A said that the Shinobi Alliance was in the Hidden Rain Village's debt and owed it one favour."

"And bringing in ninja from all the neighbouring countries to deal with this serial killer is you calling in that favour?" Suigetsu guessed.

"Yes… Of course, when I returned home, I saw that Konan had died. The other villagers elected that I run the village in her place, between being a member of the original Akatsuki and getting in the Shinobi Alliance's good graces." Ameko concluded.

"Thank you for telling us your story," Sasuke said as he looked down the terrace, "but we need to be heading back down to help Jugo. We have just one more question to ask you."

"What is it?" Ameko asked.

"The killer: how did they turn your villagers to stone?"

"We don't know for sure… He just grabbed them for a split second and then boom, petrified…"

Sasuke was lost in thought for a moment. "Hn… Karin, try sensing for Jugo's chakra."

"I don't see how that'll help since he's right under us, but okay…"

Karin used her _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique, and she promptly gasped:

"This is really weird!"

"What is?" Suigetsu asked.

"I'm sensing _**two**_ Jugo's! They're not exactly the same, but there's another chakra _really_ similar to Jugo's around the north-western border of the village!"

"I could also sense a chakra similar to your friend's in that area." Ameko said. "And it's _identical_ to the culprit's!"

Suigetsu stroked his chin, puzzled. "But that means… what?"

"It means we had to come here on our mission anyway," Sasuke answered, "because the culprit is _Worst Natural Gift._ "

"Oh dear…" Ameko's eyes widened with worry. "The north-western border is the border to the Land of Earth! The Hidden Rock ninja could be in danger! It's near the end of my sensing range as well! We need to help them somehow!"

"What do we do, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked.

"Karin, Suigetsu, you both head over to the north-western border and support the Hidden Rock ninja. I'll handle Jugo." Sasuke commanded.

"You're going to help Jugo _**alone?!**_ " Karin shouted.

"Yes. You're both needed at the other battle. Given the gravity of the situation, the Tsuchikage himself will probably be coming, and his back might cramp out at the worst time. If that happens, Karin, you need to heal his back. And Suigetsu, it seems like _Worst Natural Gift_ petrifies his opponents through solid contact; your Water Transformation jutsu should be able to nullify that ability, allowing you to more effectively fight him at close range than anyone else. And in case the Tsuchikage's back does cramp out, you'll need to stall for time protecting Karin and the Tsuchikage until Karin's finished. Are my orders clear?"

Karin and Suigetsu saluted in unison. "Yes sir!"

Without a moment to spare, Sasuke summoned Odaka, who perched herself on top of the terrace. "Odaka, take Karin and Suigetsu as far north-west as you can until you reach the end of the rain! Let them off there and circle overhead until Karin gives a thumbs-up!"

Karin and Suigetsu then jumped into their usual seats and Odaka took off for _Worst Natural Gift_. Meanwhile, Sasuke started running down the wall to Jugo.

[X-X-X]

" **Why?! Why is there no one to** _ **kill?!**_ " Jugo shouted in frenzy while running around in circles. Then he noticed a giant hawk fly overhead to the north-west:

" **I know** _ **you**_ **, Odaka! Come down here so I can kill you and everyone on you!** "

"Don't focus on the bird!" Sasuke said as he leaped off the side of the building and passed Jugo's back on his way to the ground, turning around to parry a punch from Jugo's transformed arm with a quick draw of his sword and jumping to his right.

Sasuke smirked. "After all, _I'm_ the one you want to kill _the most_ , aren't I?!"

" _ **SASUKE!**_ " Jugo roared as he pounced towards the Uchiha.

The battle to save Jugo from himself had begun.


	16. Chapter 15: One Last Manipulation

"Oh come on! Why did we have to accept this mission?!" Kurotsuchi asked in anger, walking in pace with her grandfather's floating, able to see the rainclouds above the Hidden Rain Village in the distance.

"We've been through this before, my dear!" Onoki said. "We're in debt to the Hidden Rain since they provided us info on that Masked Man's techniques! We owe them at least this much! Do I have to remind you about that letter we received, eh?"

Kurotsuchi looked up in reflection. "No you don't, Grandpa… I remember what it said…"

 _Dear Head Ninja of the Hidden Leaf, Hidden Rock, and Hidden Sand Villages:_

 _This is an emergency! A highly dangerous serial killer is running amok in our village! We attempted to eliminate the threat with teams of our own, but nothing at our disposal could stop this menace. So we call upon you to assist us in dealing with this threat. In the meantime, our entire population has been ordered to evacuate to the upper levels of our tallest buildings, mostly for our own safety, but also so your ninja may fight this enemy without worrying about civilian casualties._

 _To assist you in your endeavour, we have provided as much information as we have on this killer. The most important thing of note is the method of killing: turning his victims to stone with physical contact. Furthermore, the enemy is over 200 cm tall and fairly bulky, but is extremely fast despite his size. In conjunction, any and all attempts at Taijutsu are not advised. Also, any attempts at using Genjutsu to pacify the enemy from our village have been inefficient at best. We do not know for sure, but we believe the enemy is incapable of feeling pain, whether real or imagined. We think the best course of action to combat this enemy is to immobilize them with long-range Ninjutsu, then destroy them in a single shot, again using long-range Ninjutsu, before he can free himself._

 _Lastly, please send as few ninja as possible for this mission; the enemy seems to be attracted to large groups of people._

 _RSVP As soon as possible!_

 _Ameko Shinsei, Head Ninja of the Hidden Rain Village._

"I understand why we have to accept the mission, Grandpa, but why do we have to go ourselves?! Why don't we send other ninja for the mission?!"

"Because we're the best ones for the job!" Onoki replied. "You'll keep the enemy still with your Quicklime jutsu, and I'll blast them with my Particle Style! This mission was _written_ for us!"

"I _suppose_ so…"

Kurotsuchi sighed as the mountainous paths of the Land of Earth around them ended and the wetlands of the Land of Rain began.

[X-X-X]

When Onoki and Kurotsuchi reached the north-western border of the Hidden Rain Village, they noticed a tall burly man with spiky orange hair wearing nothing but a loincloth running up to them. The man's figure was far from human however; there were spikes coming out of their back and their forelimbs were significantly wider than what ought to be possible. The man's eyes were also gold with black sclera. Looking at the man, Kurotsuchi was reminded of the berserker that fought against the Hidden Cloud ninja alongside Sasuke Uchiha during the Five Kage Summit, when he was at his most monstrous. But Kurotsuchi could tell the two men were not the same, thanks to this new man's other facial features.

This man had minor wrinkles and a full, messy beard.

" **Hah hah hah!** " The man screamed as he got closer at a faster speed than his massive size would suggest. " **Finally, more to release!** "

The man tried to grab for Kurotsuchi and Onoki, but Kurotsuchi dodged to the right and Onoki flew up beyond the man's reach.

"Over 200 cm and really fast… this is our target, Grandpa!" Kurotsuchi exclaimed.

"Then we proceed as discussed!" Onoki shouted as he flew a little farther back, still facing the enemy, to put himself in position.

"Roger!" Kurotsuchi yelled as she jumped back away from the enemy and made several hand seals. " _ **Lava Style: Quicklime Congealing Jutsu!**_ " she shouted as she made her final hand seal.

At that moment, Kurotsuchi blew a grey fluid through her hands and onto the ground near the target's feet. Thanks to the heavy downpour present, no Water Style jutsu was necessary to solidify the quicklime, and the enemy's feet were trapped in seconds. All that was left was for Onoki to disintegrate the enemy with his Particle Style. To this end, Onoki made several hand seals, ending with forming a triangle with his hands, the enemy seen in its centre:

"Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Ju-"

Onoki suddenly felt a sharp crack in his spine, disrupting his chakra flow. It brought his levitation, and his finishing move, to a grinding halt.

" _ **MAH BACK!**_ " Onoki cried in terror as he fell.

" _ **NOT NOW!**_ " Kurotsuchi screamed as she dashed underneath Onoki, catching him as he fell with a slide. She gently placed her grandfather on the ground and looked back to the enemy. Much to her horror, she saw him punch the ground several times, breaking through the cement that was keeping his feet in place.

" _ **RELEASE!**_ " the man roared as he rushed towards Kurotsuchi and the downed Onoki with both arms stretched out for a grab. When the man's hands were inches away from Kurotsuchi, however, he was punched by a very muscular arm. The man tried to grab the arm after being hit, but the arm turned into water before it could be grabbed, launching the man away without receiving damage.

"I… remember you…" Kurotsuchi looked up in awe at her and her grandfather's saviour. It was the white-haired swordsman that fought with Sasuke Uchiha during the Five Kage Summit, but he was no longer in possession of the sword he was using at the time.

"No time for Thank You's, tomboy! We have a common enemy!" Suigetsu said as he shifted focus to the man he just launched away, who was quickly recovering. "Karin, heal the old man! Everything's going down just as Sasuke predicted!"

"I don't take orders from _you_ , moron!" Karin shouted as she ran past Suigetsu and picked Onoki up from next to Kurotsuchi. "Let me take care of him! You focus on that monster!"

"Uh… sure…" Kurotsuchi relented and let Karin take Onoki outside the rain as quickly and as carefully as she could. Then she put her attention on Suigetsu:

"I know what we need to do! We have to keep him still so that Grandpa can blow him up with Particle Style!"

"How did that plan work out the first time, huh?"

"It… didn't. His back cramped out at the worst time! But that was just a fluke!"

"Kage-level ninja shouldn't excuse their failures on an account of _flukes!_ "

Kurotsuchi was speechless at Suigetsu's remark.

Without waiting for a reply, Suigetsu started running toward the enemy. "I have another idea!"

"I hope it works!" Kurotsuchi said as she looked on.

Suigetsu and the enemy rushed at each other, the unknown killer trying to grab Suigetsu repeatedly, and Suigetsu turning his body parts to water before they could be grabbed. This lasted for a minute without a word from either side until someone spoke up.

"Yeah, let's just keep this up!" Suigetsu taunted. "We draw this fight out long enough and you'll return to normal on your own!"

" **Normal…** _**NORMAL?!**_ " the man roared as he let out an explosion of energy. Suigetsu just narrowly avoided it by jumping back.

" **Haven't been…** _ **normal**_ **… for FIFTEEN YEARS!** "

Suigetsu flinched for a brief moment. "Fifteen _years?_ How the fuck is that even _**possible?!**_ " He began circling his enemy with caution, still avoiding their attempts at grabbing him.

" **Energy…** " the man explained as lucid as his crazed state and attempts to grab would allow, " **Comes so fast… Never get empty… I… Get older… Energy… Get faster…** "

"You're telling me the Natural Energy comes in so fast you can never get rid of it all?!" Suigetsu inferred, still dodging the grabs. "And it only _accelerates_ with age?!"

The man nodded with a devilish grin. " **Water Boy… Right!** **Energy so fast… Energy hurts… Hurts so much… Feel nothing else!** " he screamed as Suigetsu pulled away in fear.

" **All I can do… to relieve pain… is RELEASE!** "

"Goddammit!" Suigetsu swore as he ran back to Kurotsuchi with the enemy tailing him.

 _I wanted to end this without killing him, but looking at it now, killing him would be doing this guy a_ _ **favour!**_ _… Oh fuck! If this is how it is for a middle-aged man, then it's only a matter of time before the same thing happens to_ _ **Jugo**_ _…_ Suigetsu thought with dread.

"So what's the new plan?!" Kurotsuchi shouted.

Suigetsu quickly got back to Kurotsuchi's side. "Our new plan… is the old plan! We stall him until your old man's ready to blast this guy to smithereens!"

 _Come on, Karin! We can't hold him back forever…_

[X-X-X]

Karin took the elderly Third Tsuchikage to a relatively flat dirt road that had become muddy thanks to the nearby rain. She could barely see _Worst Natural Gift_ through the rain and could make out Suigetsu and the red-clad girl with a black bowl-cut in between herself and the target. She quickly focused her attention down to the Tsuchikage, who was laid down, and lifted one of her sleeves.

"Come on, old man! Bite me!" Karin shouted, bringing her arm up to the Tsuchikage's mouth. "Your back will get revitalized and you'll feel twenty years younger to boot!"

"Are… you sure?" the Tsuchikage asked, barely able to move his mouth on to Karin's arm.

"Yes! I healed Granny Hokage like this in the war! She, and by extension _you_ , wouldn't be _**alive**_ today if I couldn't do this!"

Karin then used her free hand and helped the Tsuchikage sink his teeth into her arm. In a few seconds, the Tsuchikage's muscles relaxed and his spine was rejuvenated.

"Umm… the healing is over…" Karin reacted with surprise as the Tsuchikage kept his mouth on her arm… and even started chewing. The Tsuchikage's wrinkled cheeks unintentionally flushed however, betraying the carnal joy he was getting from the experience. Karin swiftly took her arm out of the Tsuchikage's mouth and punched him in the face with her other hand.

"You dirty old _**PERVERT!**_ "

"Ow! It seems you have given me a concussion! I think you will have to heal me again!"

 _It isn't every day that such a healthy young woman is all over me, especially at my age… Better milk this for all it's worth!_ Onoki thought.

"I can tell you're being dishonest, _sleaze ball!_ " Karin shouted as she pulled the dirty old man up off the ground. "Come on! You have a monster to slay!"

"Alright…" the Tsuchikage relented as he began floating again. He and Karin then headed back to the battle as quickly as they could.

[X-X-X]

"Damn, every time you stop the guy in his tracks, he just punches himself out!" Suigetsu exclaimed as he watched the enemy start to do that very thing.

"If only there was a way to raise my quicklime…" Kurotsuchi wondered aloud.

"What if I used Water Style to move it up?"

"We'll need to time it just right… Because of this stupid rain my quicklime dries as soon as it hits the ground! You'd have to release your jutsu _immediately_ after I release mine, so the water picks up the quicklime right before it drops!"

" **Release!** " the madman screamed as he finished breaking himself out of the dried quicklime and launched himself toward Suigetsu and Kurotsuchi, who dodged the incoming grabs such that they were now facing each other. They both nodded their heads at each other and started forming hand seals, Kurotsuchi as quickly as she could, and Suigetsu timing his to be just a little slower than Kurotsuchi's.

" _ **Lava Style: Quicklime Congealing Jutsu!**_ " Kurotsuchi exclaimed as she spat out a liberal helping of grey fluid around the maniac.

" _ **Water Style: Water Ouroboros Jutsu!**_ " Suigetsu shouted only moments after as the raindrops in the air merged to form a dragon made of water that flew around the target. The water dragon picked up the quicklime, bit its own tail, and kept going, coiling around the enemy several times. The end result was the crazed killer trapped in a cylindrical cage of cement without enough room for his arms to punch his way out.

Suigetsu and Kurotsuchi both cheered. "It worked!"

"That's enough, kids! Let _me_ take it from here!" an aged, croaky voice shouted from above them. Suigetsu and Kurotsuchi looked up to see Onoki floating in to the scene and forming hand seals. Suigetsu and Kurotsuchi stepped back from their opponent's prison, giving Onoki room to fire off his Particle Style technique:

" _ **Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!**_ "

Onoki shot a colourless cube into the hole in the cement prison at the top. A white flash erupted from inside the cylinder, and then the cylinder of cement and everything inside it imploded to within the cube, which promptly exploded in another flash of white light, obliterating the target without leaving behind a single trace but his footprints in the ground.

"It's all clear Odaka! Come on down!" Karin yelled as she put her thumbs up toward the sky, having returned to the battle at the same time as Onoki. Suddenly, Odaka landed and motioned for Suigetsu and Karin to climb aboard.

Kurotsuchi stared at Odaka in wonder. "That has to be the biggest bird I've ever seen! Second to Deidara's sculptures anyway!"

"It's Sasuke's! We split up with him at the middle of the village." Suigetsu said.

"So the Uchiha boy's here too?" Onoki stroked his chin. "What's he up to, anyway?"

Karin began to explain: "Well, what he's doing is…"

[X-X-X]

Sasuke was running due east, hoping to leave the Hidden Rain Village with the enraged Jugo following him. So far, he had been successful; Jugo was listening to Sasuke's taunts.

"Yes, keep coming, Jugo!" Sasuke called back to him. "Follow me! Follow your hatred! You were only a tool to me! I used you with no remorse, and I threw you away the moment it was convenient! You want revenge on me, don't you?!"

" **Yes! Yes! Killing you will make me very happy!** " Jugo roared.

"Good!" Sasuke looked forward again, focused on running. "Then destroy me with your own two hands! Foster your hatred and despise me!"

While Sasuke was saying those words to bring Jugo outside the Hidden Rain, he didn't really mean them; in fact, he meant more or less the exact opposite:

 _I'm sorry I have to do this Jugo. You said that you felt like exploding at any moment ever since we arrived in the Hidden Rain Village. Since I know that the one that turned the villagers to stone is one of your relatives, I figured out that those people were turned to stone due to having too much natural energy forced on them. Those statues are giving off way too much natural energy, and as long as we're around them, you'll stay the way you are no matter what I do. In order to keep my promise to you and calm you down, I have to lure you away… I have to manipulate you one last time!_

With this determination to save Jugo in his heart, Sasuke kept leading Jugo outside the Hidden Rain Village.

After several minutes of zooming past the high-rise buildings of the Hidden Rain Village, Sasuke and Jugo finally left the raincloud, finding themselves in a grassy wetland with a forest on the horizon. The change in terrain tripped Sasuke up and he lost his balance, stumbling into the grass. He quickly turned around to find Jugo on top of him.

" **Now to have my revenge!** " Jugo shouted as he prepared a fist to smash Sasuke's face in. As he was about to deliver the punch, however, he stopped himself mere inches away from Sasuke nose. " **Sa… suke?** "

"Your real self is coming back, Jugo! Keep fighting!" Sasuke said.

" **You… lied to me…** " Jugo responded, torn between his personalities. " **Why should I… trust you?** "

"I may have lied back there, but look around!" Sasuke deliberately left eye-contact with Jugo to look at the sky. "We're nowhere near those statues anymore. Those triggered this outburst, didn't they? Now you can change back…"

" **What feelings do I trust? I hate you… but I-** "

"What you feel towards me… it isn't hatred! I know hatred when I see it. If you truly hated me then you wouldn't have hesitated! Yes, you're angry, and yes, you feel betrayed, and for everything I put you through of course you'd feel that way! But this hesitation just now, it proves that there's still some part of you that wants us to restore our bond. I know, because I felt the _same way_ when I fought Itachi! I didn't realize why until it was too late, but I wasn't feeling angry or betrayed at my brother because I hated him; it was because I _loved_ him! That's why what he did hurt so much! Search the depths of your heart, Jugo, and you'll see it too: what you feel towards me is not hatred, but _love…_ "

Sasuke's speech exhausted his throat and he began breathing heavily. Jugo was frozen for a few seconds, but suddenly he relaxed his muscles and his transformation reversed to his regular form. Then he rolled over, now lying on his back beside Sasuke, and gave a warm smile:

"You… almost had me fooled for a moment there…"

"It was the only way… to get you away from that environment…" Sasuke said between breaths. "Sorry I manipulated you again…"

At that, Jugo began laughing. Sasuke couldn't help but laugh in turn.

"Awww… It seems like I missed all the fun." A cold and calculating voice said from behind them, breaking up the laughter. Sasuke and Jugo sat up and turned around to find a familiar face.

"Why are _you_ here?" Sasuke asked him.


	17. Chapter 16: Ryuchi Cave

"Why are _you_ here?" Sasuke asked the man behind himself and Jugo. It was a face he remembered all too well. The same chalk white skin, the same purple markings around his eyes… the same glasses.

"Why, the _Hidden Leaf Village_ sent me to deal with some giant serial killer because of my experience," Kabuto explained, beginning to point at Jugo, "but it looks like you already got it under control."

"It wasn't me…" Jugo objected. Kabuto knew he was telling the truth thanks to injecting himself with Karin's DNA among others, and as a result he frowned in realization.

"So he managed to break free after all…" Kabuto said, more to himself than anyone else.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "So there _was_ another member of Jugo's clan that Orochimaru had contact with. That's who you're thinking about, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes." Kabuto nodded. "But I figured you'd get at least that much on your own; anyone who saw Anko Mitarashi's Curse Mark would have made that connection."

"Who is he, Kabuto?" Jugo asked. "And more importantly… why did Orochimaru stop… _using_ him?"

"His name is Warushizen. Lord Orochimaru first met him at Ryuchi Cave, where he acquired the contract with the snakes and tried to learn Sage Mode. Sometime around the end of the Second Ninja World War, probably during the time Jiraiya was training Nagato and the others around here, Lord Orochimaru found the place and tried to become a Snake Sage. He failed. But you already know _that_ part, Sasuke."

"Yeah," Sasuke admitted, surprising Jugo. "You're the one who told me about it."

"Well, the reason Lord Orochimaru failed was because no matter how hard he tried and despite years of practice, he could never quite gather _enough_ natural energy for the transformation; he always came up a little short. Ironically enough, according to Naruto, Jiraiya always gathered a tiny bit _too much_ for a perfect transformation…"

"You've been in contact with Naruto?" Sasuke wondered.

"Not really… When Lord Hokage received the letter from the Hidden Rain Village, he asked his closest associates how people could turn to stone. Naruto gave him an answer by retelling his Sage training and how people who gathered way too much Natural Energy were turned to stone statues in the form of a toad. He thought that possibly the culprit was someone who could gather Natural Energy without any proper Sage training, and was dumping the excess on to their victims. When asked for a name, he remembered how Jugo gave your Susano'o an enhancement similar to the Curse Mark during the war, and figured that had to be Natural Energy because you were able to damage Obito while he was the Ten Tails' Jinchuriki, and only Senjutsu could affect him."

"And hence the Hidden Leaf thought Jugo did it, and you were sent out because you've dealt with him in the past…" Sasuke concluded.

 _Damn it, Naruto! You were_ _ **this**_ _close to revoking my pardon with your own words… and you were the one that wanted me to go free to begin with… You idiot!_ He thought.

"So how does this all relate to Warushizen?" Jugo asked.

"Right, about that…" Kabuto continued. "Lord Orochimaru wanted to acquire Sage Mode, but couldn't gather enough Natural Energy. He thought about devising a way to overcome that obstacle… and he came upon a breakthrough in the name of Warushizen, who arrived at Ryuchi Cave when Lord Orochimaru had just about given up on Sage Mode. Starting then, Lord Orochimaru and Warushizen were training partners. On the first day, Lord Orochimaru noticed that Warushizen had this remarkable ability to take Natural Energy in passively at all times, just like you, Jugo."

"And Orochimaru wanted to make use of that ability for himself… so he could gather enough Natural Energy for Sage Mode…" Jugo inferred.

"Exactly. Lord Orochimaru's first strategy was simply to inject Warushizen's DNA into himself, but he decided against it the first time he saw Warushizen go berserk. Thankfully Lord Orochimaru survived the ordeal since he had a way of calming Warushizen down the same way Kimimaro and Sasuke did for you. However, Lord Orochimaru didn't want to risk inheriting that downside himself, so he rejected the idea of injecting Warushizen's DNA directly and instead tried a more roundabout method, a way to 'fake' a Sage Mode by combining the enzymes in Warushizen's cells gathering Natural Energy with Lord Orochimaru's own chakra pre-mixed."

"The Curse Marks," Sasuke deduced. "The Curse Mark's original purpose was to bypass Orochimaru's inability to gather enough Natural Energy and give himself a Sage Mode of his own…"

Kabuto nodded. "You're correct. But with such a potentially dangerous experiment, Lord Orochimaru needed to test its effects on others before he could safely use it on himself. So he returned to the Hidden Leaf Village and abducted ten children and branded them with his first Curse Marks to see the effects… Let me restate that: _nine_ abducted children with one volunteer desperate to please her teacher, unaware of what she was getting herself into…"

"Anko…" Sasuke and Jugo said in unison.

"And among the subjects… only Anko survived. Seeing the 10 percent survival rate, Lord Orochimaru scrapped any intentions to brand a Curse Mark on himself, deeming it too dangerous. Even worse for Lord Orochimaru, however, was that this _particular_ experiment was what led to Lord Third discovering Lord Orochimaru's unethical experiments and forcing him into exile, taking into account the investigation by the Uchiha Police Force into the missing children and Anko's own account of what happened."

 _The Uchiha Police Force was involved in Orochimaru's exile? I wonder if on top of our Sharingan, Orochimaru wanted to steal my and Itachi's bodies to spite Father for doing his part in exposing him…_ Sasuke thought.

"What was Warushizen doing at the time?" Jugo asked.

"I don't know for sure, but Warushizen definitely couldn't learn Sage Mode." Kabuto explained. "I think that, since gathering enough Natural Energy obviously wasn't a problem, he probably couldn't remain completely still. You need to be perfectly still in order to properly combine your chakra and Natural Energy for Sage Mode. If you can't, then most people would risk turning to stone. As for Warushizen… I think you already know."

Jugo solemnly looked down at himself in response.

"With a decade of no success, Warushizen probably got fed up and quit his training." Kabuto continued. "He likely travelled the world, keeping himself as far away from other people as possible, and wound up in a remote area in the Land of Earth when Lord Orochimaru found him again, just before the Land of Sound was officially recognized as a country."

"The Land of Earth?" said Sasuke. "Isn't that where the Northern Hideout is located?"

"Yeah… That's where I was taken…" Jugo added.

"It's no coincidence you were taken there, Jugo." Kabuto remarked. "Since the Northern Hideout was _built_ for Warushizen, it's only natural it'd be a good fit for you too."

Sasuke and Jugo were both taken aback.

"You see, when Warushizen met Lord Orochimaru in the Land of Earth, he snapped and attacked him. Lord Orochimaru was able to calm him down, but as soon as he did, Warushizen went crazy again in seconds. It seemed like as Warushizen got older, he accumulated Natural Energy faster, and soon enough it would reach the point where he'd _never return to normal again_."

Jugo was shaking in horror, imagining just what would happen to him when he got older.

"Lord Orochimaru calmed him down one last time," Kabuto continued, "and in his final moments of sanity, Warushizen requested that he be buried deep underground so he would never hurt anyone again. Lord Orochimaru complied by trapping Warushizen inside a cage made of three Rashomon Gates, then using his Earth Style proficiency to terraform a mountain over top of him. And that mountain… became the foundation for the Northern Hideout."

"If that's so, then why is he out and about now?" Sasuke asked.

"I think it has to do with the war. There _was_ a massive tree that wanted to absorb the chakra of all living things on the planet, if I recall correctly…" Kabuto remarked as he pushed up his glasses.

"So _Infinite Tsukiyomi_ destroyed the Northern Hideout in its search for Warushizen's chakra…" Sasuke inferred. "And when Naruto and I ended _Infinite Tsukiyomi_ , Warushizen had a means to escape his prison, and his rampage led him to the Hidden Rain Village…"

"Does this finish up all your questions? I have a mission to complete, you know." Kabuto said as he began walking past Sasuke and Jugo for the Hidden Rain Village. "The sooner I get it done, the sooner I can go home."

"No need for that! Mission's already over!" someone shouted from above as Odaka landed next to them.

It was Karin. "We, along with _Pervy Tsuchikage_ and his granddaughter, already destroyed _Old Jugo!_ " she exclaimed as she jumped off Odaka alongside Suigetsu. Jugo looked away at her last comment.

 _Pervy Tsuchikage? You're beginning to sound like Naruto…_ Sasuke thought.

"What's going on here, Kabuto? Are _you_ who the Leaf sent on this mission?!" Suigetsu asked.

Kabuto nodded. "Actually, yes I am. And the target's name is Warushizen… even though I did suspect Jugo at first… Regardless, it seems like my mission is over then. I'll just head on over to where the Head Ninja's going to be so I can collect my reward and head home now… Nice meeting you again."

Kabuto started walking again, but suddenly someone called out to him.

"Wait!"

The voice belonged to Jugo. Kabuto turned around to see him standing up.

"Warushizen… you said he was at Ryuchi Cave. Why did he go there?" Jugo asked.

"Oh, that…" Kabuto began reflecting. "According to the White Snake Elder, your clan actually lived there a long time ago. They used to be nomads, like all clans before the Hidden Villages were founded. They came across Ryuchi Cave at one point and found that it was an ideal place for the gifted members of their clan to learn how to control themselves."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. " _Gifted_ members of the clan?"

"I suppose it makes sense that you don't know since you've only been in contact with one of them, but only _one tenth_ of Jugo's clansmen actually develop the Kekkei Genkai to take in Natural Energy. They couldn't effectively reproduce if _all_ of them developed it, you know…"

 _One tenth?! That's the same ratio of people that survive being branded with a Curse Mark! That can't be a coincidence!_ Sasuke thought.

"So I'm one of the unlucky ones…" Jugo depressingly inferred, but he calmed himself and posed another question:

"Why did they leave? The way you worded it, it seems like Warushizen was the only member Orochimaru actually saw there."

"That would be because it had some negative effects on the clan." Kabuto answered. "First of all, because the area is more in tune with Natural Energy than most places, transformations in the gifted members were more frequent. Secondly, Since Sage training is extremely difficult some gifted members would fail to master Sage Mode, making their stay there meaningless. And finally… being at Ryuchi Cave also made _more_ members develop the gift than before, with more Natural Energy being exposed to the babies at birth. The entire point of their settling there was to _reduce_ the gift's problems, not make them worse. So the clan decided from that point on to scatter across the world and send anyone with the gift to Ryuchi Cave for training."

"But I never got the message…" Jugo said. "I killed my parents the first time I ever transformed. Warushizen's parents were fortunate enough to survive his…"

Kabuto smiled with his eyes closed. "Well now you have the answers you need! I'll be on my way then. See you later!"

Then, for the third time in the past few minutes, Kabuto started to walk towards the Hidden Rain Village. This time, however, no one stopped him; everyone went quiet.

"We ought to be heading back to the Hidden Rain too!" Suigetsu exclaimed, trying to lift the mood.

"Before we do…" Jugo spoke up. "Sasuke, there's something I need you to do for me."

"What is it?"

"I… need to go to Ryuchi Cave, and you can summon a snake that can take me there."

Suigetsu and Karin doubled back in bewilderment, falling down on their butts.

"Why do you ask?" Sasuke questioned.

Jugo took a moment to respond. "It's just, the ordeal we just went through and Kabuto's words just now… They've taught me something. They've taught me that I can't rely on you forever. I need to learn how to control myself on my own. Otherwise, in a few years, I'll end up just like Warushizen, unable to do anything but destroy the world I love so much… The only way I can avoid that fate is to become a true Sage, and I need all the time I can get to do that…"

Sasuke closed his eyes, contemplating Jugo's request. After a minute or so…

"… Alright, Jugo. This is where we part ways. Suigetsu, Karin, say goodbye to Jugo." Sasuke commanded as he stepped aside for the other members of Taka to see Jugo off. Karin went first.

"I know I didn't talk with you as much as I did Sasuke or Suigetsu…" Karin said as she started to cry. Then she hugged Jugo around his waist, burying her head in Jugo's abs. "… but I know I'll miss you! Goodbye, Jugo…"

"I'll miss you too, Karin…" Jugo spoke softly as he patted Karin on the head and gave her a warm smile. Then Karin let go and Sasuke motioned for Suigetsu to say his goodbyes as well.

Suigetsu walked up to Jugo with a scowl on his face. "I'm not going to soften up on you like Karin did… but I know you're heading into a tough fight. You better not lose the battle ahead! I might have to kill you myself if you do…"

"I'm not going to lose." Jugo stated calmly, his brow furrowing. "You better not lose your upcoming fight either."

Jugo and Suigetsu both nodded, their frowns turning upside down. Suigetsu then walked away to leave space for Sasuke. But instead of saying goodbye right away, Sasuke bit his thumb and slammed it on the ground in a direction facing away from the rest of Taka, producing an utterly gigantic puff of smoke. The smoke cleared to reveal a massive blue snake.

"What is your command, Master Sasuke?" the snake asked.

"Aoda, let Jugo merge his chakra with yours. When I cancel your summon Jugo will go with you to Ryuchi Cave. Lead Jugo to the White Snake Elder: the time has come for him to become a Sage."

"As you wish, Master." Aoda replied.

"Jugo." Sasuke shifted his focus, reached above his head for Jugo's own, and despite the height difference just barely managed to press his index and middle fingers on Jugo's forehead. "Don't come back until you've become a Sage. The next time we meet, you aren't going to need my protection anymore, and I won't need to lie to you either. So farewell… for now."

"I won't disappoint you." Jugo declared as he walked up to Aoda and jumped on his head, combining his chakra with the giant snake's. With a final wave goodbye from Karin and Suigetsu, Sasuke dispelled the summoning, and Jugo and Aoda disappeared in a great puff of smoke.

"Why did you… let him go, Sasuke?" Karin asked, drying her tears.

"Because… I understand how he feels."

 _How Jugo and I connect… it's like the bond Itachi and I had, just with me in Itachi's role… Even though Jugo is older and bigger than me, it feels like he could be my little brother…_ Sasuke thought.

After a moment of silence, Sasuke turned toward Odaka and motioned for Suigetsu and Karin to follow him. "Let's head back to the Hidden Rain and report to Ameko."


	18. Chapter 17: A New Dawn

After bidding farewell to Jugo, the rest of Taka headed back to Ameko at the centre of the Hidden Rain Village to explain their situation. When they arrived there, they found the surviving villagers back on the lower levels, dropping the petrified bodies of their fallen comrades into the canals flowing under the village as a method of burial. Furthermore, Kabuto had already left the village and Onoki and Kurotsuchi were just finishing their own debriefing with Ameko.

"It's very strange…" Onoki said as he was rubbing his chin in contemplation. "Out of all the Kage, the young Kazekage is the _strongest_ advocate for fostering relations with other villages. Something terrible must be going on in the Hidden Sand…"

"What did you just say about the Hidden Sand?" Sasuke interjected, overhearing the last part of their conversation.

Onoki grinned. "Uchiha-boy! I was wondering when I'd get to see you here! But it seems like the giant you usually have around isn't with you…"

"That's odd." Ameko added. "They were all together when they came here. Did something happen outside the rain?"

"Jugo's left us temporarily." Sasuke explained. "He has very important training to do and it can't wait until our mission is finished. I think you both understand why, considering what we were up against."

"Afraid he's going to turn out like that monster, eh?" Onoki remarked.

"His name was Warushizen." Sasuke said. "Anyway, what were you saying about the Hidden Sand?"

Ameko sighed. "The Hidden Rock and Hidden Leaf both sent ninja to answer my request, but the Hidden Sand _hasn't._ "

Sasuke and Suigetsu were both taken aback, while Karin frowned in agreement, having come to the same conclusion through her own sensing.

"Lord Tsuchikage thinks that perhaps something is preventing Lord Kazekage from answering."

"We'll make sure to check it out." Sasuke declared. "We're on our way to the Hidden Sand anyway."

"Come on, Grandpa!" Kurotsuchi interjected. "Let's head back already! Mission's over!"

Onoki shrugged as he floated behind his granddaughter. "Alright, my dear. Time to go."

"Hold on!" Suigetsu protested. "Do you happen to know if Jugo and I have been pardoned or not?"

"You don't need to worry about that anymore, sonny!" Onoki exclaimed. "We received word from the Hidden Leaf and the conditions of the young lady's pardon over there have been extended to you and the big guy too! You're free… at least until we catch you doing something dirty!"

"Well _that's_ a relief!" Karin said.

"See you around, young'uns!" Onoki said goodbye as he placed his hands on Kurotsuchi's shoulders, making her light enough to float alongside him. The Rock ninja and Taka waved each other goodbye as Onoki and Kurotsuchi flew away to the north-west. As they were flying away, Onoki started to cry.

"What's wrong, Grandpa?!" Kurotsuchi asked in panic.

Onoki suddenly began laughing.

"Nothing, my dear! These are tears of _joy!_ Throughout my long life as a ninja, I've seen many battles take place in this country… the Hidden Rain Village has a history of being the setting of war and destruction, since it's surrounded by three of the Five Great Shinobi Nations… I've fought and killed countless Leaf and Sand ninja myself right in this very village… but this battle was different. For the first time ever, the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Rock villages, bitter enemies once upon a time, worked _together_ here. Seeing how far the world has come… it warms my old heart!"

"Yeah… I get what you mean! I worked together with an ex-Mist ninja to trap Warushizen… before the Alliance was formed I never even considered the possibility! Speaking of that ninja… he told me that Kage-level ninja shouldn't excuse their failures on account of flukes! You're past your prime, Grandpa! Let someone younger take over!"

"You know what… you're right."

Kurotsuchi gasped in response to Onoki's admission.

Onoki gave a pained smile. "This battle taught me at least that much. My back started hurting at the worst time, and because of that, if it weren't for the youngsters that saved us, we would both be dead. Knowing that… I can't trust myself to protect the village, or anyone else, in my condition. So I've decided that as soon as we return home, I'm going to retire and choose my successor as Tsuchikage."

Kurotsuchi was so elated hearing those words that she could not help but cry in happiness along with her grandfather.

[X-X-X]

"I know this seems sudden, but I've been thinking about this ever since I saw you…" Ameko said as she was looking at Sasuke and Karin, "… are you Nagato's children?"

The question blew all of Taka's minds.

"How the hell do you connect Pain to either Sasuke _**or**_ Karin?!" Suigetsu asked.

"Well, Karin has the same red hair Nagato had… and Sasuke there has a Rinnegan…"

"Pain didn't have red hair!" Suigetsu shouted. "His hair was _orange!_ Almost the same shade as Jugo's even!"

"You didn't see Nagato's real body." Ameko pointed out. "The battle with Hanzo crippled Nagato's legs, so he fought by remote-controlling corpses as puppets with his Rinnegan… Yahiko's body being the main one… that's probably what you saw. The real Nagato had red hair."

Suigetsu began to shiver. "That's… really creepy. You're not going to use _my_ body like that… are you, Sasuke?"

"Relax." Sasuke commanded. "I don't plan on using anyone's body but mine. And just because Nagato could use the Rinnegan like that doesn't mean I can. I've only had my Rinnegan since the war. Nagato had his for most of his life. He obviously mastered the Rinnegan much more thoroughly than I have. As of now, the only Rinnegan techniques I know are those I saw being used in the-"

"Excuse me." Ameko interrupted. "You said Nagato had his Rinnegan for _most_ of his life? Wasn't he born with it?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No. Nagato's Rinnegan originally belonged to someone else: Madara Uchiha, to be precise."

"So the Masked Man told Konan the _truth?_ " Ameko asked in horror.

"The only thing he lied about was being Madara in the first place. So to answer your question, no, I'm not Nagato's son. I have the Rinnegan because I'm related to _Madara_ , not Nagato."

Ameko changed her focus. "What about you, Karin? You and Nagato have the same red hair."

"I… don't think so. We _were_ probably from the same clan since our red hair is a trait all pure-blood Uzumaki have… Did Nagato ever travel to the Hidden Whirlpool Village during the Third Ninja World War?"

"No. He was busy co-leading Akatsuki here in the Hidden Rain Village the whole time."

"Then he can't be my father. I've never seen my father, but from what little I remember of my mother, she told me she evacuated from the Hidden Whirlpool Village the day it was destroyed while pregnant with me… and that happened during the Third Ninja World War. My father had to have been in the Hidden Whirlpool Village then…" Karin trailed off into silence.

"…I'm sorry I brought that up." Ameko said. "You're not related the way I thought, but you and Nagato _were_ clansmen… I think you should see him. Come this way."

Ameko started walking down a flight of stairs farther in the building. Karin followed her, with Sasuke and Suigetsu close behind.

[X-X-X]

Ameko led Taka to a shrine below the village's water level. There, Sasuke saw a flower bed with three bodies lying on top of it. From left to right, he could see a tall orange-haired man that looked just like 'Pain' without the piercings, an elderly white-haired man with no eyes, and a blue-haired woman that Sasuke could identify as Konan.

"This is the resting place for Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan." Ameko solemnly announced. "Konan was the one who created this grave for Yahiko and Nagato, with my assistance… When I returned to find Konan dead, I thought it was only right for her to be buried alongside her closest friends. They created Akatsuki together, they fought for peace together… and so they should be together in death. Karin, Nagato is the one in the middle."

Karin raised an eyebrow. "You said his hair was red… Why is it white?"

"I think I know why." Sasuke spoke up. "Nagato, as Pain, destroyed the Hidden Leaf Village when he tried to capture Naruto, killing many of its citizens. But Nagato had a change of heart after losing to Naruto… and made amends by reviving the villagers with the _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ technique… at the cost of his own life. And looking at him now… it seems like Nagato paid that cost by ageing himself to death."

"That's right." Ameko confirmed. Karin started to pout.

 _Dammit… he was right there… I spoke to him once, and I almost met him face to face… Nagato was part of my family, he was suffering, and I didn't even notice… Naruto managed to help him in the end, but if I'd known and helped him sooner, maybe he wouldn't have had to die… Dammit…_ Karin thought as she let out a few tears. Suigetsu noticed this and wrapped his arm around her. Karin didn't bother trying to make him let go.

"… Thank you…" Karin spoke through her crying.

"Don't mention I did this outside, okay?" Suigetsu said with an unusually serious tone.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Nagato…" Sasuke whispered under his breath.

 _It was thanks to Nagato that Itachi knew where to find Kabuto during the war… that means they were together before Itachi broke free. I suppose that means Kabuto thought they could work well together. In a way, I've inherited both of their eyes: Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan and Nagato's Rinnegan… While their methods were wrong at times, they both dreamed of a peaceful world, and gave their lives to make that peace a reality… So I've inherited both their wills as well. Big Brother, and Nagato as well… I'll make sure your dreams don't die._ Sasuke thought.

"Karin, Suigetsu, it's time to go." The Uchiha said.

"Is there anything I can help you with before you leave?" Ameko asked.

"There is one thing…" Sasuke answered. "The Land of Wind is very dry and it'll take at least a day to get to the Hidden Sand Village from here. So before we leave, we'll need to stock up on water."

"Understood. That won't take long at all." Ameko replied.

[X-X-X]

It took no more than thirty minutes for Taka to return to ground level and get stocked up on water. Since it would take a maximum of three days to reach the Hidden Sand Village on foot, in case something happened to Odaka, Sasuke and Karin took three bottles of water each, marked them, and placed them inside the backpack Sasuke kept his lone bedroll in. Suigetsu, in the interest of being hydrated at all times, took six bottles for himself and attached them all to his belt. When they were all packed, Sasuke summoned Odaka and Taka started flying south, into the Land of Wind, finally closing in on _Desert Maelstrom._


	19. Chapter 18: Turbulent Sands

While Taka packed a dozen water bottles between themselves for the trip to the Hidden Sand Village just in case, Sasuke's plan was to arrive at the Hidden Sand in just a little over one day, riding on Odaka. Unfortunately, just an hour or so into the Land of Wind, that plan hit a snag.

"It's so fucking _windy!_ " Karin shouted.

"And with all this sand, I can't see the ground clearly!" Suigetsu added.

"The wind's blowing us off course, and the sand's getting in all our eyes to boot…" Sasuke further added. "Guess it can't be helped… We'll have to reach the Hidden Sand on foot."

At those words, Sasuke commanded Odaka to land, and quickly cancelled her summon once she did. Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu then started walking south-southwest towards the Hidden Sand Village. They stopped periodically for water breaks and for Karin to sense for any clusters of chakra as signs of civilization, but otherwise did not stop for anything but sleep. As a rule, Sasuke and Karin did not drink any more than one water bottle a day; Suigetsu limited himself to two.

Halfway through the second day, Karin sensed a cluster of chakra a little ways west of them, and Taka rushed in that direction. In most cases, they would be rushing for food and more water, but this particular cluster was different. On their way there, Taka had this conversation:

"All the chakras over there…" Karin began with worry, "… have a piece of Orochimaru in them…"

"How is that possible?!" Suigetsu exclaimed.

Sasuke's eyes widened in realization. "No way… It's the prisoners with Curse Marks we fought at the Northern Hideout on our way to recruit Jugo… they've moved since then."

"But the number's too small…" Karin objected. "There should easily be double this number…"

"Actually… the fact we're sensing them at all is the real troubling thing." Sasuke pointed out. "Since Warushizen escaped the Northern Hideout after the war, he would have turned the prisoners to stone on his way out… if they were still there."

"What are you getting at?" Suigetsu asked.

"He means that the prisoners escaped well before Warushizen did, idiot!" Karin shouted.

"But what are they doing in the Land of Wind? And _together_ at that?!" Suigetsu further asked.

"Them being together _is_ strange…" Karin said, lost in thought. "They'd have no reason to stick together after breaking free…"

"Maybe they're _not_ free." Sasuke interjected. "Perhaps, after we left with Jugo, one of the prisoners challenged and defeated all the others, winning their fealty… Kimimaro brought the Sound Four under his command as the Sound Five that way."

"Who would do that though? Build up a _Curse Mark Army_ through force and lead them to the Land of Wind?" Karin asked.

" _Desert Maelstrom_ , obviously," Suigetsu remarked. "Whoever they are, they must have some kind of mean grudge with the Hidden Sand…"

 _Someone from the Northern Hideout, that's a former Sand ninja that hates their former village, and has very strong Wind Style jutsu… That's it! It's her!_ Sasuke thought.

"I know who _Desert Maelstrom_ is." he said.

Suigetsu and Karin both stumbled in shock.

"Really?! _Who?!_ " Karin and Suigetsu shouted in unison, picking their pace back up.

"I didn't give it much thought since I didn't give _anything_ that happened during my training with Orochimaru much thought if it wasn't related to killing Big Brother, but I'm the reason _Desert Maelstrom_ is even tied to Orochimaru… Her name is Yoshitsune."

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow. " _Desert Maelstrom_ 's a chick?"

"And what do you mean _you're_ the reason she's tied to Orochimaru, huh, Sasuke?!" Karin asked as her eyes narrowed.

"It happened almost a year after I first joined Orochimaru. Since the Hidden Sand learned that Orochimaru murdered the Fourth Kazekage, the village obviously wanted Orochimaru's head. Next to restoring its relationship with the Hidden Leaf, hunting down Orochimaru was likely the Hidden Sand's highest priority. Several teams were probably sent on such a mission, but all of them failed. One such team got close though: Yoshitsune's team. They managed to locate one of Orochimaru's hideouts, and one that I was staying in at the time. Rather than deal with the intruders himself, Orochimaru sent me to deal with them as a test for my abilities, with Kabuto to assist me. I fought Yoshitsune, wanting to fight the strongest among them, while Kabuto fought everyone else. Kabuto wound up killing all his opponents easily and collecting their corpses. As for my fight with Yoshitsune…"

Sasuke hesitated for a moment to jog his memory.

"Yes?" Karin and Suigetsu both prodded.

Sasuke finished collecting his thoughts. "The battle started with me at a disadvantage. She had greater range thanks to her fan strengthening her Wind Style jutsu. If you're having trouble imagining it, think Temari, the Kazekage's sister, using her Ninjutsu. They probably attended the same dojo."

Suigetsu and Karin nodded in comprehension.

"Thanks to that skill in long range, I couldn't get in close to use Chidori or any Taijutsu or Genjutsu options. And despite the elemental advantage, my Fire Style jutsu weren't able to completely nullify Yoshitsune's own jutsu."

"So how did you win?" Suigetsu asked.

"When Kabuto noticed I was having trouble, he offered to finish the job for me. Naturally I refused any help, believing that I'd have no chance against Itachi if I couldn't defeat the opponent right in front of me. So instead, I used the Curse Mark's second stage to power myself up. After that, my Fire Style jutsu devoured any Wind Style jutsu Yoshitsune used, and while Yoshitsune was frozen in shock at the sight, I used the fireworks as cover to fly behind her and knock her out in a single blow to the back. I stopped Kabuto from killing her after the fact and demanded she be taken into the hideout instead."

"What happened next?" Karin wondered.

"Yoshitsune woke up to find Orochimaru at her bedside, with myself and Kabuto just behind them. Yoshitsune reached to her back for her fan, but realized it was confiscated. On top of that, Kabuto temporarily severed chakra flow to her limbs with his Chakra Scalpel while she was asleep, so she couldn't fight back at all. Yoshitsune ranted about how Orochimaru murdered the Fourth Kazekage and wanted to take revenge, believing that he was the cause of the Hidden Sand's suffering… but Orochimaru turned the discussion around on her."

Suigetsu tilted his head. "In what way?"

"Orochimaru told Yoshitsune about what happened to the Third Kazekage. In particular, how the Third Kazekage was ambushed and killed by Sasori of the Red Sand, a fellow Sand ninja about to defect. When Yoshitsune asked how Orochimaru could possibly know that, he showed her his Akatsuki ring and told her about how he and Sasori used to be partners. Then Orochimaru went on to point out that the first two Kazekage were also assassinated. Altogether, Orochimaru made the argument that the Hidden Sand's misfortune could only be caused by _the Kazekage_ _themselves_ being too weak to rule their village properly. Yoshitsune… listened. She decided from that point on to 'save' the Hidden Sand Village by becoming strong enough to take it down and rebuild it in her own image. And her first move… was to give herself the same power I used to defeat her."

"She volunteered for a Curse Mark?!" Karin and Suigetsu both exclaimed, astounded.

"Not just for a Curse Mark. She volunteered for a Curse Mark… and once she woke up having survived acquiring it _and_ its second stage, she demanded to be sent where the most people with Curse Marks were in order to study them and spar with them… so Orochimaru made her the warden of the Northern Hideout from that point-"

"Hold on!" Karin interrupted. "If she was the warden for the Northern Hideout, then why didn't we see her?!"

" _We_ didn't," Sasuke looked back at Suigetsu, "but maybe _he_ did."

Suigetsu thought back to his time at the Northern Hideout. "Me? Now that you mention it … I _did_ see a chick that wasn't in a Curse Mark form! She told me she was the place's warden… and she told me where Jugo's cell was after you _ditched_ me! … Still, she seemed way too lax for a warden. I freaking tipped her off that we were going to be taking Jugo away, and she didn't seem to care!"

"And now we know why." Sasuke said. "Yoshitsune was using us breaking Jugo out as a means to cause chaos at the hideout. Chaos she took _advantage_ of by beating down every last prisoner in the hideout at once to become their master, filling the power vacuum Orochimaru left behind. And now she's leading an army of Curse Mark-empowered soldiers to the Hidden Sand Village in a bid to take it over."

"She's the commander of a _**Curse Mark Army**_ and she's only an A-Class?!" Karin exclaimed in bewilderment.

"Orochimaru was probably only classing them based on their individual strength." Sasuke pointed out. "Alone, Yoshitsune probably isn't as strong as Warushizen was. But she has numbers, resources, and intelligence that Warushizen lacked. With this in mind, despite having a lower class … Yoshitsune might be our most _dangerous_ enemy yet."

[X-X-X]

In a few more minutes, Taka came within seeing distance of the mass of people with Orochimaru's chakra. As they reasoned, the people were, with one exception, all using the second stage of the Curse Mark, and they recognized some as prisoners they fought in the Northern Hideout. The one exception, however, was the one in command. It was a young woman with short, light brown hair, with a giant fan strapped to her back, and she wearing tattered Hidden Sound robes. Sasuke and Suigetsu both recognized her as Yoshitsune. In turn, Yoshitsune recognized Sasuke and Suigetsu, and also noticed Jugo's absence.

Suddenly, Yoshitsune motioned for her soldiers to charge at Taka, and the Curse Mark Army complied with her orders.

"They're coming for us!" Suigetsu shouted.

"She probably wants to wear us down before finishing the job herself!" Karin added.

"I won't let that happen." Sasuke declared. "Hold on to me!"

At his orders, Karin and Suigetsu each placed a hand on one of Sasuke's shoulders.

 _I can't use it for flight, but defeating a horde of enemies in seconds? No problem._ Sasuke thought.

" _ **Susano'o!**_ "

The giant purple construct that appeared during the battle with Shin's clones enveloped Sasuke again, this time with Karin and Suigetsu as well. But rather than fly, Sasuke instead made the construct pull out its left sword with its right hand, drawing the blade through the ground just ahead of it, in between Taka and the Curse Mark Army. This created a massive scar in the land and sent up lots of debris in the form of sand and rocks. The front-most wave of Curse Mark soldiers fell in to the scar, while the others were blinded by the sand and knocked out by the falling rocks.

Yoshitsune looked on in terror as the gargantuan chakra construct managed to defeat the entire platoon of soldiers in seconds, without killing a single one. She tried using her fan to blow the construct apart, but her wind could not penetrate it. She tried one more time after activating her Curse Mark, but again Susano'o took no damage. Moments later, Susano'o dissipated at Sasuke's behest, and Suigetsu rushed up behind Yoshitsune and held a finger to her head. Sasuke and Karin soon followed.

"Any sudden moves and your brain gets soaked." Suigetsu threatened.

At the warning, Yoshitsune deactivated her Curse Mark. "I surrender. It's clear I have no chance against a behemoth like that." she said, her eyes focused on Sasuke.

"If you don't want to die, you better answer our questions." Sasuke said.

"I can tell when you're lying," Karin added, "so just tell the truth from the start!"

"And if I don't?" Yoshitsune asked.

At that moment Sasuke drew his sword and pointed it at Yoshitsune's left hand, while also beginning to smirk:

"If you don't I'll cut off one of your fingers every time you lie. And don't worry: I have ways of counting past ten."


	20. Chapter 19: Military State

_When you said you'd cut off a finger of hers for every lie… that_ _ **was**_ _a lie… I get it, Sasuke! You're bluffing! You're hoping defeating her three years ago and your Susano'o display just now will scare her into telling the truth!_ Karin thought.

"Alright, first question!" the Uzumaki shouted. "Why did you bring this Curse Mark Army to the Land of Wind?!"

Yoshitsune hesitated for a moment before answering. "The war significantly reduced the Hidden Sand's numbers, so here I am providing reinforcements."

"That's… a lie!"

"Of _course_ it was. Before freely giving away information, I have to know for sure if your leader here is going to make due on his threat."

Sasuke shook a little.

"Come on, big boy! Surely such a strong ninja like yourself has the _balls_ to cut off one measly finger, _right_?"

Sasuke closed his eyes. _Crap, she called my bluff… I can't afford to damage her body after she surrendered. If a Sand ninja finds us with a severed finger and blood on my sword, I'll be charged with assaulting a prisoner and my pardon will be revoked. In that case…_

Sasuke finished his thought by opening his eyes and staring into Yoshitsune's. One second later…

" _ **AAAHHH!**_ "

Yoshitsune looked down at her hands immediately after screaming. She was shocked, but relieved, to find her left pinky finger still on her hand. But the implication struck her with an even greater despair.

"I can't make three days pass by in a second like my brother could," Sasuke said, "but whatever you feel while under Tsukiyomi is no mere illusion. I won't physically remove any fingers… but I _will_ make you experience the pain of losing them all the same. And because it's Genjutsu, there's _no limit_ to how many times we can go through this, beyond my own stamina."

Yoshitsune sighed. "… Alright… I'm not going to lie anymore. Fire your questions away."

Karin nodded to signal that she was just telling the truth about not lying anymore.

"Then let's start with the original question. Why have you brought a Curse Mark Army to the Land of Wind?" Sasuke asked.

"That's an easy one." Yoshitsune grinned. "I've brought them here to take over the Hidden Sand Village."

"Then where are the rest of them? The ones we just defeated can't be the entire group; we saw more than double this number when we recruited Jugo at the Northern Hideout."

"That's a little more complicated. The ones I have with me are only one third of my forces. The other two thirds are scattered all over the Land of Wind."

"Why split them up that way?"

"So I can thin out the Hidden Sand's forces."

"How so?"

"By attacking all the towns in the country."

Sasuke and Suigetsu were taken aback, but Karin nodded, solemnly confirming the truth of Yoshitsune's words.

"Elaborate, now!" Karin demanded.

"I've ordered my forces to divide themselves fairly evenly, with each platoon getting a town in the Land of Wind to destroy." Yositsune explained. "For the past week or so, a different town has been attacked every day at the same time. Between reconstruction, investigating the cause of the attacks, and guards being sent out to prevent future ones, the Hidden Sand Village _sure has its hands full…_ "

"… and as a result, the Hidden Sand won't have enough troops to defend itself." Karin concluded. "It already doesn't have enough to answer a Hidden Rain distress call…"

"You're plan isn't going to work." Sasuke objected. "Certainly the Hidden Sand will enlist the aid of the Hidden Leaf any time now. And possibly the Hidden Rock as well."

Yoshitsune winked. "Oh, I've planned for _that_. It takes one day for a messenger bird to go from the Hidden Sand to the Hidden Leaf. Then it takes three more days for any teams to travel from the Hidden Leaf to the Hidden Sand. The Hidden Rock would take even _longer_ to respond. I've been camped out here for a while… and we can see the Hidden Sand Village at the horizon. And what do you know; a messenger bird was sent out past our heads toward the Hidden Rock Village _yesterday._ Of course, the Hidden Sand would have also sent one to the Hidden Leaf at the same time. In one hour, the next town will get attacked, and that will also be my cue to lead the main invasion force into the Hidden Sand. By my calculations, we'd arrive at the Hidden Sand…"

"…Tomorrow." Karin inferred. "One day before the Hidden Leaf ninja even arrive…"

"With the Hidden Sand's ninja spread out all over the Land of Wind, they won't have the numbers to overcome the bulk of my forces in their own village! And by the time any reinforcements arrive, the village will be destroyed and the Kazekage's head will be on a pike!"

Yoshitsune began laughing madly.

"You've got to be the craziest bitch I've ever seen!" Suigetsu shouted. "And I know a _really_ crazy bitch, so that's saying something!"

"I'm nowhere _near_ as crazy as _this_ bitch!" Karin objected.

"Both of you, calm down!" Sasuke ordered. Suigetsu and Karin relented and went back to tending to their jobs as head-holder and lie-detector respectively.

"Yoshitsune… taking over the village and killing the Kazekage… what will you do after that?" the Uchiha asked.

"Why, I'll be the next Kazekage, of course!" Yoshitsune said through her laughter. "And in order to keep the Wind Daimyo from sending word to the other nations and calling a Fifth Ninja World War against me, I'll kill him too and rule the entire country in his place! My first order of business will be to make Ninja Academy training mandatory for _**everyone!**_ The Land of Wind will be the first true _**Military State!**_ The Hidden Sand Village will never be weak again!"

Sasuke shook his head. "What you're hoping for isn't going to happen. You believe that by eradicating the system and creating it anew, you will 'save' the country, but what you're doing is the exact opposite. Attacking civilian towns… Invading a village when it can't defend itself… Assassinating the Kazekage and the Wind Daimyo both… You fancy yourself the saviour of your country, but all of your actions boil down to _terrorism._ Even if you do manage to succeed and force your way into leading the nation, your people will not serve you out of loyalty or gratitude, only _fear._ The country may never be weak again… but it'll never be _happy_ again either. All your plan will accomplish is trade one form of suffering with another. But you can stop your plan before it gets that far. If you really care about the Land of Wind, you'll call off your attacks. We can end this without any more bloodshed."

Yoshitsune closed her eyes and contemplated Sasuke's words. After a minute or so of reflection…

"So what will it be?" Sasuke asked.

"You're… you're just a naive fool!" Yoshitsune shouted. "' _We can end this without any more bloodshed?_ 'That's hilarious, coming from a goddamn _**Uchiha!**_ Your clan's filled with some of the biggest war-mongers in history! Madara betrayed and declared war on his home village not that long after he freaking created it! Then Obito started the Fourth Ninja World War! And don't get me started on _Itachi…_ "

"You don't need to." Sasuke interrupted. He began trembling for a few moments in response to Yoshitsune throwing his clan's history in his face, but he quickly calmed himself and sighed. "It's clear that nothing I say or do will get through to you. I am convinced, however, that you _can_ change your mind. We're just not the ones to do it. Karin, Suigetsu, our interrogation is over."

 _Of course… Yoshitsune's a lot like me when I was at my darkest. Nothing was able to pull me out of the darkness… until I was shown through Naruto's fists that my way of thinking was wrong. Since the core of Yoshitsune's belief is that the Kazekage are too weak, while_ _ **I**_ _might not be able to save Yoshitsune…_ _ **he**_ _certainly can._ Sasuke thought.

"What do we do now, Boss?" Suigetsu asked.

"We stay here. Yoshitsune, and by extension the section of the Curse Mark Army here, are our prisoners. Until the Hidden Sand authorities arrive, we're responsible for their well-being. Escorting Yoshitsune to Hidden Sand prison alone would mean abandoning the Curse Mark Army. So we stay here to watch everyone at once."

"How are you so sure Hidden Sand ninja will arrive here, Sasuke?" Karin wondered.

"It's because of something Yoshitsune said. She said that we can see the Hidden Sand Village close to the horizon." Karin and Suigetsu looked south to confirm her words. "Turn that statement around, and what do you have?"

Karin's eyes widened with comprehension. "The _Hidden Sand Village_ can see _**us**_ close to the horizon…"

"But we're tiny compared to the village! They wouldn't see things as small as our bodies from that far away!" Suigetsu objected.

"Our normal bodies, yes, but I just used _Susano'o_ a few minutes ago. Something that big would surely be seen by the Hidden Sand, and from seeing Madara and me use Susano'o during the war, the Hidden Sand would be aware that I was in a fight… and there may very well be dead or wounded people nearby. They'd naturally send a team to check things out as fast as possible. So odds are… we'll be seeing some Sand ninja in a matter of hours."

"So what are you going to do to us… in the mean time?" Yoshitsune asked.

"Oh, we'll do mostly nothing. We'd feed you, but we don't have the resources to do that ourselves." Sasuke answered. "That being said, if you try to attack us or run away, you'll have committed perfidy, and we'll kill you for it. Understood?"

Yoshitsune hung her shoulders in shame. "Yeah…"

[X-X-X]

By sunset, a team of Hidden Sand ninja arrived at Taka's location as Sasuke predicted. Before that time, Yoshitsune ordered the Curse Mark Army to stand down, and they all did as instructed; not a single soldier tried to falsify Yoshitsune's surrender. The team of Hidden Sand ninja included three ninja with typical Hidden Sand uniforms and some kind of cloth wrapped in a scroll at their back. The fourth member, however, stood out from the rest. She had blonde hair tied in four short tails, was wearing a black yukata tied at the waist with a red sash, and had a giant fan strapped to her back. Sasuke recognized her as Temari, one of the Kazekage's bodyguards at the Five Kage Summit… and the Kazekage's sister.

"Sasuke Uchiha… We came as quickly as we could. What's going on?" Temari asked.

"I believe we've found the mastermind behind the attacks on the neighbouring towns." Sasuke said as he turned his head toward Yoshitsune, now sitting down in front of the Curse Mark Army. Temari walked up to get a closer look.

Temari gasped in shock. "You… Yoshitsune-Senpai?!"

"So, which feeling is stronger, I wonder? Is it your happiness to see me alive, your confusion at seeing me in Hidden Sound robes, or your anger at me betraying the village and plotting to take over the country, Temari _-chan_?"

"So you admit it… You're the one behind all these attacks! But why? … Why all this… _terrorism?!_ Ever since I first started training, I looked up to you! You taught me how to use the fan… you showed me the Weasel summoning contract… You were so strong… I wouldn't be the person I am today without you! How could you stoop this low?!"

"It's _**because**_ I'm strong! Kazekage… is such a _worthless_ title. Everyone who's ever adopted it was assassinated. Every last one… They're a bunch of weaklings that can't get anything done! They're all so weak that they can't even defend themselves from assassins… and the Hidden Sand ought to be the _**hardest**_ village to infiltrate! The Kazekage are weak… but I'm _**strong.**_ I can do it: I can demolish the system that's been holding us back since the Hidden Villages were conceived! The Hidden Sand's always been the weakest of the Five Great Hidden Villages because of our inferior numbers, you know… Well I can change that; if _everyone in the country_ becomes a ninja, then that will no longer be a problem! I'm strong enough to make that happen. Once my conquest is over… Kazekage and Wind Daimyo… both titles will be obsolete! And in their place will be one sole ruler for the entire Land of Wind… their _**Goddess!**_ You speak of me stooping to 'lows'… but I'm giving the Hidden Sand the _**highest**_ honour it could possibly receive!"

Temari shook in place, trying her hardest to hold back her despair. "I can't believe this… you're twisted beyond reason! You're not even _you_ anymore! Team, seal her and all her soldiers up right now!"

"Yes, Captain Temari!" her three squad-mates said in unison as they took out their cloths:

" _ **Cloth Binding Technique!**_ "

Yoshitsune was promptly wrapped in one of the ninja's cloths and the Curse Mark Army was wrapped in a giant ball formed by the other two. One seal was placed on each bind, immobilizing the army and Yoshitsune. The large ball with the Curse Mark Army was placed inside the scar created by Susano'o, while Temari took hold of Yoshitsune.

"At last, the attacks will be over…" Temari sighed with relief.

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't think so. Two thirds of her army already separated from her and are attacking various towns in the Land of Wind without her supervision. And you just sealed away the only person who can get them to stop… or tell us where they are. Without Yoshitsune's orders, the Curse Mark Army will likely keep attacking as previously instructed."

Temari's jaw dropped. "So… what should we do?" she asked.

"We head to the Hidden Sand, for starters. Inform the Kazekage the terrorist group's leader and one third of their forces have been captured. Release Yoshitsune next to the Kazekage and have him challenge her to a duel to win her co-operation. When the Kazekage wins, Yoshitsune will have unassailable proof that her worldview is wrong, and will help the village to stop her plot willingly. Meanwhile, we will search out as much of the enemy as possible; Karin can pinpoint the locations of all the terrorists because they all have Curse Marks and every Curse Mark contains Orochimaru's chakra. When Hidden Leaf and Hidden Rock reinforcements arrive, have them assist our team by deploying them to towns we haven't been to yet."

"That all sounds… like it could work." Temari nodded. "I have to hand it to you; you're _almost_ as smart as Shikamaru." she smirked.

"Save your flattery for _after_ we've saved your country." Sasuke said as he motioned for Taka to run south alongside Temari and her team for the Hidden Sand Village.


	21. Chapter 20: the Kazekage Descends

"Something's bugging me, Sasuke." Karin said on Taka and Temari's way south to the Hidden Sand Village. It had been one hour since Temari's sealing team sealed Yoshitsune and one third of the Curse Mark Army, the sun having completely set.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"It's just… It's just that Yoshitsune seemed too relaxed about everything."

"Now that you mention it…" Suigetsu added, "We stopped her plan from reaching its coup-de-grace, yet the bitch only lied once during the whole interrogation…"

Temari's brow furrowed. "And on top of that, she offered no resistance when we sealed her and her army up. I know Yoshitsune-Senpai is really good at staying calm under pressure, but -"

"That's the problem." Sasuke interrupted. "Yoshitsune _wasn't_ calm; she was enjoying herself. She was _laughing_. She was practically _toying_ with us."

"But what does that mean, Sasuke?" Karin asked. The Uchiha hesitated to collect his thoughts before responding:

"It means… It means that Yoshitsune isn't worried about her plan failing at all."

"But she got sealed!" Temari objected.

"Because she _let herself_ get sealed." Sasuke corrected. "You even said she offered no resistance."

"Why would she do that, though?" Suigetsu wondered.

Temari's eyes lit up. "That has to be it!"

" _What_ has to be it?!" Karin asked impatiently.

"The village!" Temari shouted. "She predicted that we'd take her to the village! That was her endgame all along… rather than put a stop to her plans, we'd just be _advancing_ them if we took her to Gaara's doorstep!"

Sasuke nodded. "You're probably right… Then our course of action is… stop!"

At Sasuke's command Karin and Suigetsu stopped running as Sasuke himself did, and after a second or so the Sand ninja followed suit.

"What are you thinking?" Temari asked Sasuke.

"If Yoshitsune wants us to take her to the Hidden Sand Village, then we don't do it. But at the same time, Yoshitsune will only co-operate if the Kazekage defeats her. So rather than take Yoshitsune to the Kazekage… we bring the Kazekage to Yoshitsune _here_ , outside the village. At least that way, no villagers will get caught in the crossfire of their battle."

"That is probably the best course of action…" Temari replied. "The reason Gaara was captured by Akatsuki was because Deidara took advantage of being in the village and forced Gaara to exhaust himself protecting it from a gigantic clay bomb."

"But if he fights _outside_ the village, then he can cut loose without worrying about having to protect anyone!" Karin concluded.

Suigetsu gasped. "Whoa. If you're saying the Kazekage would have defeated freaking _Deidara_ on his own if the village wasn't holding him back, then…"

"Yes, Suigetsu," Sasuke confirmed his suspicions. "I only managed to escape my own battle with Deidara by sacrificing Manda… so at least until I acquired the Mangekyo Sharingan, the Kazekage was _stronger than me._ "

"And since losing Shukaku meant Gaara could sleep," Temari added, "his stamina's gone up _exponentially_ since then."

Suigetsu shivered. "I had no idea that losing a Tailed Beast could make a person _stronger…_ "

"Anyway, how are we going to bring Gaara over here?" Temari asked.

"I'll deliver the message on my own. Everyone else stays here and looks after Yoshitsune." Sasuke said.

"Why are you going alone, Sasuke?" Karin wondered.

"Because we're in a race against time. Every day a civilian town gets attacked. The sooner we defeat Yoshitsune the better, and no offence, but I'm _much_ faster than anyone else here. Running full speed, I can get to the Kazekage's office in under an hour."

"But you'll burn yourself out before even getting there!" Karin objected.

"I have something that can help with that." one of the sealing ninja said as they reached into their pouch and took out a soldier pill. They then walked up to Sasuke and gave it to him.

Suigetsu shrugged and shook his head. "We _really_ need our own supply of those…"

"I'll help give you a head start!" Temari promptly took out her fan and began stirring the wind up behind Sasuke's back. "The wind's in your favour now!"

"Thanks." Sasuke calmly swallowed the soldier pill in one gulp. The next instant, he started sprinting faster than anyone present could comprehend, due south toward the Hidden Sand Village.

[X-X-X]

Ever since he saw Susano'o during the afternoon earlier today, Gaara was on edge. He was already stressed out from dealing with the daily attacks on surrounding towns, but this new development had him reach a fever pitch. When he first read Sasuke Uchiha's pardon letter, he was happy that Naruto finally managed to get through to him. But from seeing Susano'o, he had begun to worry that Sasuke had not truly changed, and had just revoked his pardon by committing mass murder. He sent Temari and three sealing ninja to assess the situation, but would not be able to confirm what had happened - without leaving his office and abandoning the investigation into the attacks anyway - until Temari returned late into the night. While Gaara came to enjoy the activity of sleep since having Shukaku extracted, this one night he would stay awake until hearing back from his sister about what happened to Sasuke.

At least, that was his intention.

While in the middle of reading through reports on the attacks, he heard something jumping up to his window from the ground. At first he couldn't tell what jumped, but the blur he saw focused into a shape he couldn't forget.

"Kazekage!" Sasuke shouted.

"Sasuke… Uchiha?" Gaara spoke up. "What happened? You used Susano'o…"

"Don't worry about that! No one's dead! Here's everything that happened!"

At that point, Sasuke relayed to Gaara all that transpired since his encounter with Yoshitsune, up to leaving her in Temari's care to rush to Gaara with the information as quickly as possible.

Gaara sighed with relief. "You performed commendably… When I saw Susano'o, I thought I would have had to turn you to the Hidden Leaf personally… At any rate, why are you so sure Yoshitsune will co-operate if I defeat her?"

"Because she's like us." Sasuke answered. Gaara was taken aback. "When we were lost in darkness, the only thing that could pull us out was Naruto proving our way of thinking was wrong with his fists. And when he did, we both saw the error of our ways and changed for the better. If you defeat Yoshitsune, you can pull her out of her darkness, like Naruto pulled us out of ours."

"If that's the case, then should it not be Naruto who fights her? I explicitly requested that Naruto be part of the team the Leaf sends to help us… since his ability to detect malicious intent and the Shadow Clone Jutsu together ended the White Zetsu Clone crisis in the war… and this situation with the Curse Mark Army is not that different…"

"Naruto can't save this one. What's driving Yoshitsune into darkness is her belief that _the Kazekage are weak._ If you don't fight her yourself, and instead do something as _cowardly_ as have a Leaf ninja fight your battles for you, then her belief will only be _**enforced,**_ even if it's Naruto who fights her."

"So I have to be the one who does it… in order to prove Yoshitsune wrong and save her… because I am the Kazekage…"

Sasuke nodded. "It'll break Temari's heart seeing her brother and her mentor fight each other, but it's the only way things can resolve happily."

"Hmmm… Alright, Sasuke, I'll head over there." Gaara declared as he walked up to the window. "But first…"

Suddenly, Gaara sent a stream of sand into the sky, mimicking the symbol on Gaara's forehead, visible thanks to the moon's light.

"What are you doing, Kazekage?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm calling someone to protect the village while I'm gone…" Gaara answered, smiling. "And you don't need to be formal with me. Any friend of Naruto's is a friend of mine. Please, just call me Gaara."

At that moment, Gaara lifted his hands and pulled some sand out of his gourd to make two clouds out of it, one for Sasuke to ride on and one for himself.

"Okay then, _Gaara_ ," Sasuke said as he stepped on the cloud Gaara left for him, "let's fly."

[X-X-X]

It had taken forty minutes for Sasuke to reach Gaara running at full speed the whole way. Sasuke noticed Gaara's sand's flight was only marginally slower; they'd reach Temari and the others in about forty-five minutes. During the flight…

"Hey, Gaara?"

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"You said you called someone to protect the village while you're gone. Out of curiosity, who did you mean?"

"Ah… Just the _Guardian Spirit of the Desert._ "

"You don't mean… _Shukaku_ , do you?"

Gaara nodded. "I do. Since the war ended, Shukaku returned to the Land of Wind with me, but we made an agreement with Lord Daimyo that Shukaku and the country's citizens do not disturb each other. Humans don't disturb Shukaku by either attacking or trying to seal him, and in return Shukaku doesn't attack humans. However, Shukaku proposed one exception to the 'Humans and Shukaku don't disturb each other' rule…"

" _You_ , I take it?"

"Yes. He wants to mind his own business most of the time, but if I ever needed Shukaku's help protecting the village, he said I should feel free to contact him. Our agreed-upon method of communication is sending a signal in the shape of the mark on my forehead into the sky using sand, something only Shukaku and I can do. If we see that mark and didn't create it ourselves, then we know the other one sent it and wants our help with something."

Sasuke closed his eyes in awe. "It's remarkable. Just three months ago I was convinced that humans and Tailed Beasts couldn't co-exist in harmony. But here you are, remaining in contact with Shukaku even after your separation gave you both every reason to never see each other again. You might not be a Jinchuriki anymore, but Shukaku is still just as much your partner as the Nine-Tails is Naruto's. That's… truly admirable."

"Thank you, Sasuke…" Gaara gave a faint blush at the compliment.

[X-X-X]

"How long has it been?!" Karin screamed.

Temari looked up at the sky. "Judging by the moon… one hour and twenty five… minutes…" she froze stiff.

"What's gotten into you?" Suigetsu wondered as he followed Temari's gaze, seeing a Kanji mark seemingly etched into the moon. "Let me rephrase the question; what is that _thing_ up there?!"

"It's the _Shukaku Signal_." Temari answered. "Gaara and Shukaku make that signal if they need each other's help. It could only really mean two things, though: either someone's trying to capture Shukaku and Gaara's been summoned to help him ward off the captors, or…"

"…Shukaku's been called to protect the village in Gaara's absence." Sasuke's voice said from above. Suddenly, he and Gaara descended to the ground on clouds made from Gaara's sand, the sand returning to Gaara's gourd upon landing.

"Sasuke's explained everything, Temari. Please release Yoshitsune." Gaara commanded.

"Alright…" Temari and the sealing ninja responsible for Yoshitsune's binding complied by removing the seal on the _Cloth Binding Technique_ , then removing the cloth around Yoshitsune.

Yoshitsune opened her eyes to find it was night time like she expected… but she was outside the Hidden Sand Village, something that was _not_ expected. She took a quick survey of the area. She noticed the scar in the ground made by Sasuke's Susano'o was no longer in sight, while the Hidden Sand Village appeared bigger than it did before. She deduced that she was taken slightly closer to the village, just close enough to be separated from her troops. The people around her were the same seven from before, plus one other. That one other being…

"Kazekage!" Yoshitsune drew her fan from her seated position and blew a small-but-fast gust of razor wind at Gaara. He blocked the wind by putting up a sand shield to take the blow. At the moment of impact everyone else ran back, leaving space for Gaara and Yoshitsune to fight. Yoshitsune stood up as quickly as she could and went for another gust, which was blocked again.

"That's it, Yoshitsune! I'm the one you want!" Gaara exclaimed, goading her into focusing on him. "Leave everyone else out!"

" _The one I want?_ Hah!" Yoshitsune laughed. "The _**whole country**_ is what I want! You're but a mere _stepping stone_ on the path to obtaining it!"

She shot another gust of wind at Gaara.

"Even so… you cannot conquer the country if you aren't strong enough to defeat me!" Gaara rebutted while blocking again, and subsequently sent a stream of sand toward Yoshitsune's fan. Yoshitsune closed her fan and quickly dodged Gaara's strike.

"If you believe your might to be superior to the Kazekage, then prove it! Break through my _Absolute Defence!_ "

Compelled by Gaara's dare and determined to end the Kazekage, Yoshitsune activated the first stage of her Curse Mark and opened her fan:

"Break through it? I'll do even better; I'll _**erase it completely!**_ "


	22. Chapter 21: Dance of Desert Maelstrom

Now using the Curse Mark, Yoshitsune's wind attacks became larger and stronger without losing their speed. Rather than block them using his sand shield, Gaara opted to dodge them by flying on a sand cloud, occasionally shooting sand spears at Yoshitsune's fan to stop her attacks when he saw an opening. Yoshitsune dodged each attempt and went right back to shooting fan blasts. The battle kept this scale for several minutes, only getting marginally faster.

 _Gaara… Yoshitsune-Senpai… you're both a lot stronger than this! Why are you holding back?_ Temari thought.

"I know what you're thinking." Sasuke said from right behind Temari, also watching the battle. "Yoshitsune believes the Kazekage are weak, so she probably thinks she doesn't need to go all out to kill your brother. Gaara is aware of this. That's why he's only fighting at the same level Yoshitsune is."

"Why not just get it over with though?"

"He's trying to make a point that nothing Yoshitsune does can break through his defence. He's letting Yoshitsune direct the pace of the battle. When she catches on that Gaara's holding back, she'll get progressively stronger. Gaara will remove his own limits accordingly. But I doubt he's ever going to attack Yoshitsune directly; notice where all of Gaara's attacks are aimed at."

"The fan…"

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah… Gaara's trying to deal as _little_ damage to Yoshitsune as possible. He's trying to take away her attacking options and tire her out, _not_ injure her. The way I see it, this battle isn't going to end until Yoshitsune surrenders of her own accord."

"Dammit… If that's the case, _I_ might as well be fighting Yoshitsune-Senpai. I wouldn't be using _kid gloves_ with her…"

"No." Sasuke moved just ahead of Temari and placed his arm between her and the battle. "Whatever you do, _don't_ interfere. Yoshitsune will just take it as a sign that the Kazekage is too weak to defend himself."

Temari's face grew cold.

"I know it's hard," Sasuke continued, "because I imagine that what you're feeling now is like what Sakura must have felt when she saw Naruto and me fight. But getting in the way isn't going to help Yoshitsune come to her senses: Sakura getting in the way certainly didn't help me come to mine. If you want Gaara to save Yoshitsune, then all you can do… is believe in them."

Temari bit her lip with reluctant resignation. "I hope you're right…"

[X-X-X]

As the battle progressed, Yoshitsune showed signs of fatigue first; her fan attacks were slowing down. Gaara picked up on this and attempted to talk her down from further conflict:

"You're exhausting yourself. Quit now before you really get hurt."

"I'm not giving up so easily!"

Yoshitsune bit her right thumb and swiped it across the width of her fan. " _ **Summoning: Cursed Blade Dance!**_ "

"No! Anything but _that!_ " Temari screamed.

"What's the matter?" Sasuke asked.

"I used something like this to level an _entire forest_ on the mission to capture you four years ago… and that was _**without**_ a Curse Mark! … Everyone's in danger!"

While Sasuke and Temari were talking, on Yoshitsune's fan was summoned a black weasel wearing a red eyepatch and purple coat. The weasel wielded a scythe almost as long as itself with a pure white blade, and was surrounded by various smaller scythes made of violet chakra.

"Go, Kurotachi!" Yoshitsune shouted. The weasel spun in place several times, striking all the miniature scythes with the bigger white one. The contact caused several massive indigo tornadoes of razor wind to manifest and be sent outward in all directions. Concerned for everyone's safety, Gaara looked around, but he was cut off:

"Don't worry about us!" Sasuke pressed his hand on Temari's abdomen and formed Susano'o to protect them both. "You're not the only one with an _Absolute Defence!_ "

"Alright!" Gaara said. Focusing on protecting himself, he lifted his hands and brought up a colossal amount of sand from the ground around him, forming a large dome around himself.

Meanwhile, Sasuke focused on everyone else. With Temari at his side, Sasuke quickly flew Susano'o close to the ground, managing to bring the three sealing ninja under its protection before being hit by a tornado from _Cursed Blade Dance_. While the tornado was not quite powerful enough to damage Susano'o, it _was_ enough to hold it in place.

And what that implied horrified Sasuke.

" _ **Suigetsu! Karin!**_ " Sasuke screamed as he saw his teammates being hit with a tornado unprotected. Sasuke was overcome with despair while Suigetsu and Karin were being shredded by the maelstrom. "No… _**NOOOOO!**_ "

[X-X-X]

When the _Cursed Blade Dance_ subsided, Sasuke quickly deactivated Susano'o and desperately ran to Suigetsu and Karin to check on their condition, fearing the worst but hoping for a miracle. When he finally reached them…

"Suigetsu… Karin… Are you… okay? …" Sasuke said between his steps, surprised by what he saw, but overwhelmed by another emotion altogether.

"I guess when she said she didn't stand a chance against that _behemoth_ , she wasn't entirely correct, huh…" Suigetsu frowned as he looked down at Karin in his arms, her face concealed by contact with his chest.

"Is that Sasuke next to us, Suigetsu?" Karin asked as she looked in Sasuke's direction.

Sasuke came closer to them, relieved, and added to their embrace. "You're alive… Thank god… but how? I saw you two get hit with it full blast…"

"You underestimate us, Sasuke…" Suigetsu rebuked. "I liquefied myself before getting hit, so I didn't get hurt at all… But I don't think I have it in me to do it again anytime soon…"

"And while I _did_ get hurt a lot," Karin added, "I bit myself to heal all my injuries. But I'm still blind without my glasses, you know…"

Sasuke looked away in shame. "I'm so sorry I couldn't reach you in time…"

"We're not the ones you need to worry about right now…" Karin spoke lightly as she pointed towards Yoshitsune. "Her chakra's… even stronger."

Sasuke and Suigetsu looked in Yoshitsune's direction to find that she had activated the second stage of her Curse Mark during the _Cursed Blade Dance_. Her skin was now a dark shade of reddish brown, and her hair turned pink and got long enough to reach her shoulder blades. Furthermore, she now had three horns protruding from the top of her head, somewhat resembling a crown. But the most significant change Sasuke noticed was that Yoshitsune now possessed four extra arms, not unlike Kidomaru of the Sound Four.

"She caused that huge storm just to _**power herself up?!**_ " Suigetsu shouted in terror. "Don't tell me she's going to make a _stronger_ one now!"

Sasuke shook his head. "No, that's not it. Look carefully… her previous _Cursed Blade Dance_ was so powerful it _destroyed her fan._ " Sasuke pointed to the ground at Yoshitsune's feet. Several shards of an iron fan lay scattered about.

"Then what was the fucking point?!" Suigetsu asked. "Is she going to try taking on the Kazekage with six-armed _Taijutsu?!_ "

"I… have no idea." Sasuke admitted.

[X-X-X]

When Gaara no longer felt any wind passing by the dome, he unformed the sand around him and looked toward Yoshitsune. He could see that she looked different, in the second stage of her Curse Mark. But it seemed like the strain from using _Cursed Blade Dance_ destroyed her fan. Gaara was confused as to Yoshitsune's strategy.

"You may have become stronger, but you can no longer use your fan!" Gaara shouted to his opponent. "You have no more options left to fight me with!"

At that moment, Yoshitsune began giggling:

"Hee hee hee… You _really_ think I wouldn't return to my home country intent on taking it over by force _**without a back-up plan?!**_ "

Suddenly, Yoshitsune dug one of her Curse Mark-elongated nails into her right thigh, and was then covered by a giant smoke cloud. Through the smoke, Gaara could hear Yoshitsune continue to rant:

"While I was away looking after Lord Orochimaru's crazies in the Northern Hideout, in order to better prepare myself for my invasion I decided to study the man who assassinated the Third Kazekage, Lord Sasori of the Red Sand… and eventually I mastered just _one_ technique of his…"

The smoke cleared to reveal thirty-three puppets in Hidden Sound robes above Yoshitsune's head, one connected to each finger on her six hands through chakra strings, and one more connected to each horn on the top of her head.

Gaara froze in realization. "Don't tell me that technique was…"

"Yes, _Lord_ Kazekage… the creation of a Human Puppet!" Yoshitsune grinned maniacally. "If I can't defeat you with Tessenjutsu, then I might as well try with puppetry! I don't have near the level of mastery that Lord Sasori had, so I can't control ten puppets with only one finger, but my extra arms and horns in my _Stage Two Curse Mark_ form compensate well enough!"

The next instant, Yoshitsune entered a fighting stance with all six of her arms and her head at the ready. "So behold my Cursed Secret Technique: _**Dance of Thirty-Three Puppets!**_ "

Yoshitsune sent all her puppets flying towards Gaara from different angles and different speeds, revealing a wide array of weapons. Knowing that several of Kankuro's and Sasori's weapons were coated with poison, Gaara made sure not to get hit by any of them. When the first few puppets came hurtling towards him, he swiftly dodged each one in succession, with almost the fluidity and grace of a dance, immobilizing the puppets with a coffin of sand each time one passed him by, preventing Yoshitsune from attacking with them again. One by one, the puppets kept coming after Gaara, and he kept dodging and stopping them in their tracks, until eventually all thirty-three were caught in his snare.

"No way…" Yoshitsune declared in surprise. "You thwarted the whole dance!"

"That's not all." Gaara calmly lifted his right arm and opened his right hand.

" _ **Simultaneous Sand Burial!**_ "

With that shout and Gaara closing his right hand in a fist, all thirty-three Sand Coffins exploded at once, taking Yoshitsune's entire sortie of puppets with them.

"You have no more puppets." Gaara calmly stated. "It's time you gave up."

"Is that what you think?" Yoshitsune shook her head as she dug a nail into her left thigh, summoning another set of thirty-three puppets. "Just because I can only use thirty-three puppets at a time doesn't mean that's all the puppets I have! Time for an encore!"

Yoshitsune tried her _Dance of Thirty-Three Puppets_ technique on Gaara again. While ultimately the same result was achieved - that is, Gaara dodged all the attacks and destroyed all the puppets at once – some of Yoshitsune's attacks were closer than before thanks to summoning the second set catching Gaara off guard.

"How many puppets do you have anyway, counting the sixty-six I just destroyed?" Gaara asked.

"You're not going to believe the figure so let me tell you straight up… _two thousand six hundred and forty_."

Gaara was visibly startled by the number.

"She's totally lying about that number! Right, Karin?" Suigetsu asked ways away, incredulous.

Karin shook her head. "Her chakra's completely stable… There's no doubt about it; Yoshitsune's telling the _truth…_ "

"That's not possible…" Gaara objected. "Not even Sasori had that many…"

"You want some proof, Kazekage? Let me show you some!"

At that moment, Yoshitsune tore off her robes and stripped down to only her bra, panties, and sandals, all of which were black. Gaara didn't care for the display of nudity; instead, what caught his eye was the numerous tiny tattoos all over Yoshitsune's body, two of which having been punctured by Yoshitsune's own nails.

"I have eighty of these babies in all!" Yoshitsune declared. "Each one of these is a summoning seal, and when I get my blood on them, they summon thirty-three puppets each! Simple math tells you the rest; _33 x 80 = 2640._ "

"But how…" Gaara asked, still having a hard time believing it.

"You know, it really is the _Uchiha_ boy's fault you don't know. Despite all his questions, he never asked me ' _ **How**_ _did you get from the Northern Hideout to the Land of Wind?_ '" Yoshitsune said with a smirk.

Sasuke and Gaara were both shocked at the accusation.

"Well here's my answer: we came here through the Land of Stones! The reason I'm so confident I can take over this country is because _I've already destroyed a smaller one._ Wonder why no one from the Land of Stones has ever left the country since Itachi's death? The Curse Mark Army and I _killed the entire population._ "

Yoshitsune's expression turned bitter and serious. Everyone present turned grim as well. Karin in particular was filled with despair, knowing that Yoshitsune was indeed speaking the truth.

"And all the lives you took in the Land of Stones… became your _puppets?_ " Gaara inferred with dread.

"You bet they did. It took me six long, arduous months, but I worked my ass off and turned the entire Land of Stones into my personal armoury. You might as well call the place the Land of _Puppets_ now… because being an extension of my will is all the purpose that country's going to get anymore…" Yoshitsune solemnly finished her rant by stabbing one of the summoning seals with her nail, summoning another set of thirty-three puppets.

"I see… then allow me to free the Land of Stones from your tainted hands." Gaara said as he prepared to dodge another _Dance of Thirty-Three Puppets._ "I'll destroy all two thousand six hundred and forty puppets so you can defile their memories no longer!"

Meanwhile…

"Hey, Boss…" Suigetsu said. "Do you really think this bitch is _worth_ saving anymore? She kind of confessed to committing genocide on a whole country. That tops your and your brother's body counts put together…"

Sasuke smirked. "It's a little too late for that question."

"How so, Sasuke?" Karin asked.

"Because she's already on her way to _being_ saved."

Suigetsu and Karin were both rendered silent by Sasuke's declaration.

"It's all in her tone of voice. Notice how she's gone quiet; she's not loudly declaring her intentions anymore. She's trying to remain calm… which means how she really feels is the exact _opposite_ of calm. Yoshitsune doesn't know it herself yet, or maybe she's in denial, but part of her has already submitted to Gaara's superiority. Rather than aiming to kill him anymore, she wants to draw this fight out… so Gaara can destroy all her puppets and cleanse her of her greatest sin… She's feeling _remorse._ "

[X-X-X]

So Yoshitsune continued to summon up puppets, and Gaara continued to destroy them. Partially through fatigue, but also partially through a loss of fighting spirit on Yoshitsune's part, Yoshitsune's _Dance of Thirty-Three Puppets_ became slower through each repeated use. Eventually, when sunrise was just on the horizon, Yoshitsune… stopped. Yoshitsune's Curse Mark deactivated on its own and she fell to her hands and knees, covered in self-inflicted puncture wounds.

"Dammit… I still… have more puppets… I… can do the Dance… twenty more times…" Yoshitsune cursed between heavy breaths.

"Between your fatigue and your blood loss, you'll die if we keep this up any longer." Gaara stated as he walked down to Yoshitsune, his arms crossed like they usually were, showing little exhaustion despite having fought all night long.

"How… can you… still be… standing?"

"I'm still standing… because I'm the Kazekage."

"That's only a title…"

"The title has a _meaning._ The Kazekage is the one who endures, the one who stands tall and defends the Hidden Sand Village from any aggressors. In order to do this job effectively you need, above all else, the will to put yourself in harm's way before the rest of the village… and the stamina to get back up and do it again. When Shukaku was extracted by Akatsuki, I realized I had the former, but _not_ the latter."

"So you… trained to improve your stamina…"

"Training? I'm not sure if you could call it that… but I did begin to sleep. While I was Shukaku's Jinchuriki, I never let myself sleep because I feared I would lose control if I was ever unconscious… but that made my stamina very weak. I could not perform strenuous activities for a long time. But now that Shukaku and I are separate, I've let my body restore my energy… through sleep. So I can go much longer without exhausting myself."

"Sleep… huh… something I'd like to do right now…"

Yoshitsune almost passed out from exhaustion, but before she could, Gaara reached down and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Just tell me one thing before you doze off…" Gaara softly demanded. "Where will your army strike next?"

"Shimeri… Suna… Estate…"

And with that, Yoshitsune lost consciousness from the battle. Shortly before she hit the ground, Gaara caught her and lifted her up in a cloud of sand, starting to lead her to the one person nearby that could ensure her survival.


	23. Chapter 22: Whirlwind of Love

While Gaara intended not to injure Yoshitsune during their fight, Yoshitsune cut herself sixty times to summon three quarters of her puppets. The resulting blood loss and the exhaustion from the battle together caused Yoshitsune to collapse, needing immediate medical treatment. Fortunately for him, there was one ninja present that could save Yoshitsune's life… one Gaara owed his own life to, in fact.

"Sasuke!" Gaara shouted. The Kazekage could notice Sasuke was still awake, no doubt because he had consumed a soldier pill on his race to fetch Gaara the previous night. His teammates, however, had fallen asleep during the battle; it seemed as though Sasuke remained at their side to protect them from any further harm.

"What do you need, Gaara?" Sasuke asked as the Kazekage approached him and the rest of Taka with Yoshitsune in tow.

"Your female teammate… Karin Uzumaki, was it? … We need her help to heal Yoshitsune."

Gaara let Yoshitsune down gently on the ground next to them. Sasuke nodded and pressed his index and middle fingers against Karin's forehead, albeit with more force than usual.

"Karin! Wake up!" Sasuke shouted. Karin slowly opened her eyes to see a blurry image in front of her. In the foreground was some black blur with one black dot and a larger purple dot underneath. Karin guessed it was Sasuke's head. Behind him was a brownish figure with a fuzzy red top surrounded by some yellow. She figured it was the Kazekage. The blurs were hurting her head and she quickly closed her eyes in pain.

"Sasuke? What is it? My eyes really hurt…"

"It's Yoshitsune. She needs treatment. We need her to bite you."

"I can't very well do that while I'm blind, can I?"

"There might be a way to still do it. We just need to bring her mouth up to your arm, right? You don't need to see to do that. Just sit up and Gaara and I will handle the rest, okay? I've got something to help you relax your eyes in the meantime."

Sasuke then pulled out his old Leaf headband that Naruto scratched and later gave back to him just before setting out on his journey of redemption, and tied it around Karin's eyes, blindfolding her.

"You can open your eyes without getting hurt now, I think. Try it out."

Karin opened her eyes to see a blanket of dark blue. The cool colour was more comforting than the mix of warm colours she saw before.

"Thanks, Sasuke. Alright, bring Yoshitsune to me." The Uzumaki said.

Karin slightly lifted her right arm. Using his own arm, Sasuke held it in place. Then Gaara carefully lifted Yoshitsune, without his sand this time, and slowly moved her head next to Karin's raised arm. Using a small amount of sand from his gourd, Gaara forced open Yoshitsune's mouth. Then he returned the sand to his gourd and let gravity do the rest, Yoshitsune's top jaw clamping down on Karin's arm on its way down to the bottom jaw. In a few seconds, the bite cured all sixty of Yoshitsune's wounds, though she remained unconscious.

"The healing was a success… I felt it…" Karin said, still half-asleep.

"Gaara! Sasuke!" someone shouted. The voice belonged to Temari, who ran up to the group with the three sealing ninja. "I'm sorry… I couldn't stay awake to watch the whole fight… what happened?!"

"Yoshitsune tired herself out." Sasuke said. "But she also stabbed herself summoning sixty sets of puppets, and the blood loss put her life in danger. With our help, Karin just healed her. But it seems like it'll be awhile before she wakes up again."

"So has Yoshitsune-senpai changed her mind or not?!"

"I don't know…" Gaara interjected, "… but she did say something before passing out. It was faint so only I heard it, but she said the next attack is going to be at _Shimeri Suna Estate._ "

Temari gasped. "Is that true?!"

"How should I know?" Karin shrugged. "I was asleep when it happened. But from my experience, Yoshitsune's only ever lied once, and that was only to test our interrogation methods… I'd believe her."

"We'd know for sure she's decided to co-operate if she told the truth about it." Sasuke added. "That means we need to go to _Shimeri Suna Estate_ in time for the attack to start and confirm her words… wherever that is."

"Yeah, where is _Shimeri Suna Estate?_ " Karin asked. "And what is it, anyway?"

" _Shimeri Suna Estate_ … is a beach resort on the south coast of the Land of Wind." Gaara said.

"It's the country's most popular tourist attraction." Temari continued. "The natural wind patterns there combined with the sea provides a predictable cycle of calm and wavy waters, attracting swimmers of all kinds. The Wind Daimyo actually owns a vacation home there. But on top of being a popular swimming area, _Shimeri Suna Estate_ also holds outdoor weddings. It's the most popular wedding spot for couples in the Land of Wind… and people living in the Land of Rivers and the western Land of Fire also frequently have weddings there. In fact, if I _ever_ get married, I am making _damn_ sure the wedding is at _Shimeri Suna Estate!_ "

The last statement turned everyone's eyes in Temari's direction, suspicious, even the currently-blind Karin.

"Not that I'm actually planning on getting married any time soon! It'd be ridiculous to get married for _at least_ another two years! Pfft!" Temari tacked on in denial.

"But you're already twenty years old, Temari." Gaara objected. "You're a legal adult in the entire continent. You can get married and even drink alcohol any time you want, wherever you want…"

Temari began blushing. "That's not…"

"Aha!" Karin exclaimed. "It's your _**lover!**_ You _want_ to get married, but your boyfriend is too young right now! That's it, isn't it?!"

Karin then made a sudden logical leap: _Sasuke… he said he had a girlfriend, but didn't tell me who it was… and he's only seventeen right now… oh my god…_

"Are _**you**_ Sasuke's girlfriend, Temari?!"

Karin's question rendered Sasuke and Temari speechless simultaneously.

"You _did_ call Sasuke cute the first time we saw him, right before the Chunin exams… if I recall correctly…" Gaara added. "Don't be shy, you two… you have the Kazekage's blessing…"

"No." Sasuke and Temari flatly said in unison.

Karin hung her head in disappointment, knowing they were both speaking the truth. Then she suddenly grinned. "I see… Then it's that _Shikamaru_ guy you mentioned earlier! You want to marry _him!_ "

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, and Gaara raised the portion of his head where his eyebrows would be if he had any. Temari's face, however, turned bright red:

"I absolutely do _**NOT**_ want to marry that _lazy fuck!_ "

Karin let out a faint but triumphant giggle. "Hee hee… You're _lying._.."

"That was excessive, Karin." Sasuke admonished. "I suppose you couldn't tell because you can't see right now, but you wouldn't even need your lie-detection to see through that one; the truth is written plainly on Temari's face."

"It's _that_ obvious?" Temari looked away in embarrassment.

"I never spotted it…" Gaara objected.

Sasuke shook his head. "That's because your perception of romantic love is just as bad as Naruto's. Unlike you two _I_ understand women totally fine."

"Damn right!" Karin agreed excitedly, but immediately turned sour. "… That just means you have no excuse for treating them like dirt."

Now it was Sasuke who was looking away in embarrassment. "Can we stop talking about our love lives and go back to the more pressing issue?" he asked, still somewhat flustered.

"I second that notion!" Temari exclaimed.

"Oh yes… _Shimeri Suna Estate…_ " Gaara recalled. "It will be difficult to reach the place in time… assuming the time of the attack will remain constant. The attacks were always at 2:00 PM before…"

"And judging by the position of the sun…" Temari looked toward the sunrise, "… it's around 6:00 AM now. So we have eight hours to get there and intercept the attackers."

Sasuke stroked his chin. "And you said _Shimeri Suna Estate_ is on the south coast… We might be able to get there from this location in time if we rode on Odaka, as long as there's no wind or a consistently favourable one… If only such conditions were possible…"

"Who or what is Odaka?" Gaara asked.

"Our transport hawk and team mascot!" Karin answered. "She's big and fast and beautiful and can carry four people at a time!"

"We would have reached the Hidden Sand two days ago on Odaka's back if it weren't for the sandstorms." Sasuke added.

Temari's eyes lit up. "There… might be a way. There's space for a fourth person, right?"

"Yeah." Sasuke nodded. "Jugo's not with us right now, so there's a free seat."

"Then I can be your wind." Temari said as she drew her fan. "I can counter any unfavourable wind with wind of my own!"

"If you're sure about it, then welcome aboard." Sasuke smiled as he summoned Odaka next to the group. "Get in the back, Temari. You'll be able to steer us more effectively from the rear."

At the Uchiha's command, Temari hopped into one of Odaka's back seats.

Karin tilted her head in confusion. "Wait… she's going in the back? Suigetsu and I usually sit there, Sasuke."

"We have to make an accommodation for Temari. She has to be in the back for the time being… in particular, she's taking _your_ spot, Karin."

"So I get to be in the front?!"

"While Temari's with us, yes. Suigetsu can turn into water in order to better make room for Temari using her fan, so it's safer for him to be in the back with her than you. And on top of that, your sensing ability can be done no matter where you sit."

Karin jumped for joy. " _ **SWEET!**_ "

The sheer volume of Karin's voice woke Suigetsu up. "What's all this racket?" he asked.

"There's no time to explain; just get in your usual spot on Odaka. We'll enlighten you about everything on the way." Sasuke commanded.

"Sure thing, Boss…"

Suigetsu walked up to Odaka and climbed into his usual seat. When he got there, however, he was shocked to see Temari sitting beside him. "What are _you_ doing in _**Karin's**_ spot?!"

"Oh, so she usually sits here?" Temari sighed. "Guess I'm doing her a favour then…"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?!"

"Just that you seem completely unattractive."

Temari's comment made Suigetsu foam at the mouth in shock.

"Guys with mush for brains are _definitely_ not my type…" Temari continued.

"Whatever…" Suigetsu crossed his arms and looked away.

"What, no snappy comeback? You're boring me _already…_ " Temari's voice trailed off into a teasing whisper as she closed her eyes.

"Time to go!" Sasuke announced as he helped the blinded Karin into shotgun while he got into his own seat.

"I'll be taking Yoshitsune and everyone else here back to the village!" Gaara said as Odaka lifted off and headed further south.

[X-X-X]

Like Sasuke and Temari predicted, Odaka was able to land near Shimeri Suna Estate with Temari's help warding off unfavourable winds with some time to spare before the attack, since the attack would likely occur at 2:00 PM, and it was currently approximately 1:00 PM. With the hour to spare, Taka followed Temari to a certain location she wanted to show the group.

"Where are you taking us?" Karin asked, still blindfolded, with Suigetsu helping her walk with an arm around her waist, Sasuke just behind them and Temari just ahead of them.

"There's an eye doctor that lives here." Temari answered. "You can ask him to get a replacement pair of glasses, Karin… I wouldn't want your blindness to slow us down on the battlefield."

"That's not all there is to it, is there? You pretend to be really tough, but deep down you're just as soft as anyone else! Admit it; you also want to help me because you feel sorry for me, don't you?!"

"No way! This course of action is purely pragmatic!"

Karin shook her head. "Even without my eyes, I can see through all your lies! There's no use pretending to be someone else in front of me… Oh my god…" she trailed off into silence.

"What's the matter?" Sasuke and Suigetsu asked in unison.

"I can sense them… four people with Orochimaru's chakra nearby… 500 metres away… sixty degrees to our right from the back!"

At Karin's words everyone turned to face that direction. Sasuke drew his sword and Temari drew her fan.

"Suigetsu, keep Karin safe here. Temari, come with me; just four soldiers should be easy between the two of us." Sasuke ordered as he started running off.

"Don't act like you're my boss, _Genin._ " Temari protested, albeit still following Sasuke, leaving Karin and Suigetsu alone.

"So it's just you and me until those two come back here…" Suigetsu said.

"That means I can ask you what I was meaning to for a while." Karin replied.

"What, that you want a date on the beach with me?"

"No, dumbass! You were unusually quiet for the whole ride! What the fuck was up with that? Did Temari scare you or something?!"

"No… It's not like that at all! … I was… I was…"

Suigetsu tried to respond, but Karin moved one of her hands up to his mouth. _What's gotten into you all of a sudden?!_ The Hozuki thought.

"So you _weren't_ scared. That much is true…" Karin surmised. "So that must mean… Were you… _aroused?_ "

Suigetsu shivered. "How do you figure _that?!_ "

"Oh, come on! I got a good look at Temari yesterday! She's freaking _**gorgeous!**_ Those long legs… That perky chest… That sultry voice… And those eyes, _damn_ those eyes… Even _**I**_ think she's drop dead sexy…"

"Well… I guess she's _kind of_ hot. But I think I was more… _uncomfortable_ than I was aroused! I mean, for over a week you were sitting beside me, and the next thing I know you get kicked upstairs to leave room for Temari… and the first thing she does is insult my masculinity and call me an idiot to boot!"

"I insult your masculinity and your intelligence _**all the time!**_ One would think you'd be used to that by now!"

"I'm used to it **COMING FROM** _ **YOU!**_ "

Karin's jaw dropped.

Suigetsu continued without waiting for a response. "When Temari did it, she was flat-out _disgusted_ with me… She didn't even care that I couldn't respond… but you're different! I can tell that when _you_ put me down, you're _challenging_ me to be a man and better myself. And I responded to that challenge by coming at you with the same intensity. It was my way of saying ' _bring it on!'_ "

Karin was bewildered by Suigetsu's confession. "Since when… did you figure that?"

"I had the feeling that was the case ever since I met you, but… I got my proof when you slapped me after we learned about Big Bro Mangetsu… That was when I learned that you would never hurt me for its own sake."

"Suigetsu…"

"Karin…" Suigetsu moved to hold her head in his hands. "I know this means a lot to the boss and it might hurt your eyes, but I need to see it myself… your unobstructed face. The whole time I've known you, I've never looked you straight in the eye… Either you were wearing your glasses, or this headband you have on now. There were times where I could have on this journey, but I wanted your consent first, so I made sure to look away every time… So please, for once in my life, may I see your face?"

"Sure… go ahead. Not like's it a big deal for _me_ or anything…"

Karin nodded, and at the signal Suigetsu slowly untied Sasuke's old headband. Karin looked up so the blue-purple balls she knew were Suigetsu's eyes were at the centre of her gaze.

"It's just as I thought…" Suigetsu trailed into silence, his entire being overwhelmed by awe and wonder at the sight before him.

 _You have the most beautiful face in the world, Karin…_

Suigetsu's thoughts were interrupted, however, by what happened next.

The sight of Suigetsu's blurred face lit by the sun above them was too much for Karin's eyes to take, so she closed them. Entranced by the intimacy and passion of the conversation they just had, Karin also tilted forward ever so slightly and lifted her heels ever so slightly off the ground. Karin threw her arms above Suigetsu's shoulders, meeting in an embrace behind his head, and she pressed her full lips against Suigetsu's toothy mouth.

Suigetsu was utterly shocked by Karin's kiss, but he was in no way displeased. Taking it as yet another dare, Suigetsu pulled Karin's body right up to his, holding her at the small of her back with one hand and at the back of her head with the other, still holding Sasuke's headband with the latter, and met the force of Karin's lips with an equal force from his own.

Being so focused on making out with each other, Karin and Suigetsu lost track of time, and Sasuke and Temari returned from the battle before they even knew it.


	24. Chapter 23: Through a New Lense

It took only thirty minutes for Sasuke and Temari to reach the squad of Curse Mark soldiers, defeat them, and return to Karin and Suigetsu's location. When they did, they were completely overwhelmed with shock that the two were rolling on the ground in an intimate embrace, lips locked. Sasuke figured that Karin in particular was so focused on Suigetsu that she didn't sense him and Temari coming back.

"Umm… We're back…" Sasuke meekly called out to the couple in front of him. Karin noticed the voice and immediately broke away from Suigetsu, took back Sasuke's headband, and blindfolded herself in embarrassment:

"Oh, Sasuke! Temari! Welcome back! How was the fight?!"

Temari sighed. "It was really boring. Even _Tenten_ put up a better fight in the Chunin Exams…"

"I didn't get far enough to see that…" Karin shook her head in confusion.

"I didn't see that either." Sasuke added. "I was in the hospital recovering from Kakashi trying to seal my Curse Mark."

"I wasn't even _in_ that exam!" Suigetsu further added.

Temari shrugged. "I guess that was a poor example. At any rate, it seems like what happened to the both of _you_ was more intriguing!" she said as she pointed to Karin and Suigetsu with a smirk on her face.

"It wasn't intriguing at all!" Karin objected, her cheeks red underneath the headband. "Suigetsu has so many sharp teeth I couldn't use my tongue for my own safety!"

"Not intriguing, my butt! You kissed me _first!_ " Suigetsu shouted. "I only kissed back because it would be improper _not_ to put in the same effort!"

"That's a lie! You liked it as much as I did!"

"So you _liked_ it, then?" Temari interjected.

"No way!" Suigetsu and Karin declared simultaneously as they put their hands on their hips and turned their heads away from each other.

"Glad to know _some_ things will never change no matter how close you get…" Sasuke remarked.

"Anyway…" Karin said. "The squad with Orochimaru's chakra had malicious intent, so we can safely assume they were planning on attacking Shimeri Suna Estate today."

"So Yoshitsune-Senpai was telling the truth!" Temari exclaimed with relief.

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah… so she's had a change of heart and is intent on cleaning up her mess."

"Great! Let's head back and report to Gaara!" Temari shouted, practically jumping for joy.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Temari?" Suigetsu objected. "Karin needs a new pair of glasses."

"Oh yes, of course." Temari smiled with her eyes closed. "Right this way…"

[X-X-X]

Temari led Taka to a set of houses lined up to face the ocean a little ways to the south. In particular, they were headed to a house more to their right, the third most elaborate in the set. Sasuke figured the two fancier ones were the Wind Daimyo's vacation home and the resort complex itself, at the leftmost edge and the centre respectively. There were two entrances on the side they were on, one marked 'check-ups' and another marked 'emergencies'. The 'check-ups' entrance had half a dozen people in line, while the 'emergencies' entrance had no line. Temari took Taka to the 'emergencies' entrance and knocked on the door several times. In a few seconds, someone opened the door. Sasuke noticed they were wearing a white lab coat with a small white hat adorned with a Red Cross, and had brown hair tied in a bun. From behind Temari, Suigetsu, and Karin, he couldn't quite make out the person's gender, or if they were the doctor or a nurse.

"Please, come on in!" they said, motioning to rush the four of them into the building. Temari and Taka complied. When they entered, Sasuke noticed that the person who opened the door was a woman, and a nurse from the looks of it, since he could spot a few other people wearing the same uniform… and one who was wearing a different one. The one who stood out did not wear a hat; instead, the Red Cross was right on their white lab coat's breast pocket, and they were wearing white surgical gloves as well. The doctor walked up to them, and as he did Sasuke could notice they were a tall but thin man with medium-length orange hair and purple eyes.

"What do you need?" The doctor calmly, but forcefully asked.

"Doctor Shiryoku, Karin's glasses were broken and she needs a new pair!" Temari said.

"Karin is the girl with the blindfold, I presume?" Shiryoku wondered.

Karin nodded in confirmation.

"If you can't walk around without a blindfold on," Shiryoku continued, "I assume your prescription is rather severe. We may need to take another exam…"

"Don't worry about that!" Karin yelled. "Suigetsu, look in my back pouch. There should be a copy of my prescription in there! I always have a copy on me just in case!"

Suigetsu complied and searched Karin's back pouch. He felt his way to a slip of paper, pulled it out, checked to see if it was a prescription for glasses, and when he was satisfied he gave the prescription to Doctor Shiryoku. The doctor took a few seconds reading it over.

"Hmm… I do believe we can accommodate your needs. Please come this way." Doctor Shiryoku commanded, leading Karin and Suigetsu to another room in the back.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Temari were led by the nurse that welcomed them to some chairs for them to sit in while they waited. Before she went back to her post at the 'emergencies' door, however, she turned to focus her gaze at Sasuke.

"Excuse me sir, but do you also have an emergency to attend to?" the nurse asked.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that you seem to have a severe case of Hetero Chroma… On top of glasses, our clinic also provides coloured contacts. Doctor Shiryoku himself actually uses them, since he was born with one blue eye and one red eye…"

Sasuke shook his head. "No thanks. It may seem strange, but my eyes are actually _stronger_ than most people's. I don't need any treatment."

"If you say so…" the nurse said, somewhat startled as she turned around to head back to her post.

[X-X-X]

Karin had spent the whole day without the use of her eyes. Somehow, she managed to heal Yoshitsune, be a passenger for a seven-hour-long flight, detect Temari's lies on several occasions, sense a fragment of the Curse Mark Army coming, and instigate a make-out session with Suigetsu, all while blind. She found it incredible how much she could accomplish even without her sight. And after all this time, she was finally getting accustomed to having a screen of dark blue being the only thing she sees, almost to the point of being fine with it staying that way. While she was reluctant to admit it, she also enjoyed all the physical contact Sasuke and Suigetsu made with her in order to support her in her time of need. But a stronger part of her was convinced that this couldn't last forever. Or rather, she wouldn't _let it_ last forever. To deliberately prolong her suffering just so the men she loves would touch her more was the kind of twisted manipulations she couldn't stand coming from the Masked Man in Akatsuki, and more recently Orochimaru as well. She may have been violent by nature and had the ability to invade someone's privacy through detecting their lies and tracking them down from anywhere, but ever since the Five Kage Summit, being a mean-spirited manipulative bitch was one line she would _never_ cross.

It was only natural, then, that the doctor's words came to her as a sign of relief:

"Open your eyes now; we need to see if these glasses work for you."

Upon instruction, Karin opened her eyes and saw from the chair she sat in, Suigetsu and Shiryoku with total clarity. She pulled a small hand-held mirror from out of her back pouch and looked at herself. The glasses had the same shape as her old ones, albeit with blue frames matching the colour of Sasuke's headband, and thinner arms than what she was accustomed to.

 _I'll have to customize them a bit to put a lock pick in the arms, but for now…_

Karin finished her thought out loud: "They're perfect, sir."

"That's awesome!" Suigetsu exclaimed, holding Sasuke's headband with his right hand. "Now I don't have to hold you while we're walking anymore!"

Karin blushed and looked away. "I wouldn't be… _opposed_ if you kept doing it, you know…"

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow in surprise then grinned.

"But not this time!" Karin added, Suigetsu slumping. "I need to make a good impression for Sasuke and Temari that these glasses work!"

She quickly put her mirror away, stood up, and swiftly walked out back to the waiting room. Suigetsu followed close behind, and Shiryoku, civilian that he was, struggled to keep up.

Sasuke and Temari spotted Karin and Suigetsu coming out, the former with a new pair of glasses on her face and the latter holding Sasuke's headband.

"So the glasses fit?" Sasuke asked Karin as the two approached them, sure of the answer.

"You bet!" Karin shouted with glee. Suigetsu stepped forward next and handed Sasuke his headband back.

"Karin won't need _this_ anymore." Suigetsu grinned.

Sasuke put his headband away and sighed. "That's good."

 _Naruto would never forgive me if it got damaged again…_ the Uchiha thought.

"How are you paying? Those glasses aren't cheap. 6000 Ryo plus the 200 emergency fee." Shiryoku abruptly demanded.

Taka was taken aback. Temari, however, simply smirked and stood up from her chair, opened her wallet, took out a C-Rank mission's worth of money, and put it in the doctor's hands.

"That should cover the expenses, I think."

Temari's remark prompted Shiryoku to double-check the Ryo in his hands. "This is… 7000 Ryo! Even more than what's necessary…"

"Consider the extra 800 a tip for good service." Temari winked, and then started heading to a door on the left, marked 'exit'. Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu followed her out.

[X-X-X]

"Wow, Temari! Not only do you bring us to a place where I can replace my glasses, you pay _extra_ as well!" Karin exclaimed as she hugged Temari as thanks.

"Can you stop touching me?!" Temari asked in irritation. "I promise not to tell anyone about the episode you had with Suigetsu if you let me go…"

Karin hugged Temari even tighter. "Like I care! I'm not so self-conscious as to hide my relationship status from the world!"

"Wait, so does that mean I'm your _boyfriend_ now?!" Suigetsu wondered in excitement.

"What do you _think_ it means, idiot?!" Karin countered, letting go of Temari and reaching for Suigetsu's hand. Karin's right hand managed to latch on to Suigetsu's left and she made sure to intertwine their fingers. Then she squeezed Suigetsu's hand as firmly as she could, and Suigetsu responded by remaining solid and squeezing back just as hard.

Sasuke had mixed feelings in response to Karin and Suigetsu's holding hands. Part of him was annoyed that they still argued incessantly despite their established bond, while another part of him was relieved that perhaps Karin wouldn't chase after him anymore. But most of all Sasuke was glad; glad that Karin and Suigetsu, however odd their relationship was to him, could find happiness with each other.

"Here we go again…" the Uchiha mumbled to himself.


	25. Chapter 24: Celebrations

Having incapacitated the Curse Mark squad intent on attacking Shimeri Suna Estate and having replaced Karin's glasses, Taka and Temari saw fit to return to the Hidden Sand Village posthaste. It took them roughly the same time coming back as they did leaving, and there were no major altercations save for Karin and Suigetsu occasionally complaining that they couldn't consummate their new relationship on the fly. They returned at 9:00 PM and when they reached the Kazekage's office, they found three people in the room. One of them was Gaara, who looked more or less the same as he did this morning, but seemed like he could fall asleep at any moment. Another was someone they didn't see earlier in the day: they were wearing an all-black get-up with three large scrolls on their back and had a liberal amount of face paint on in a symmetric design. Temari recognized him as her other brother, Kankuro. As for the last one…

"Welcome back, everyone." Gaara announced Taka's return to the other two. "What did you find?"

"Apart from my new glasses…" Karin said, "We found four Curse Mark soldiers with murderous intent near Shimeri Suna Estate! Just like Yoshitsune said they would be!"

Karin pointed to the third person. They were Yoshitsune, but instead of the Hidden Sound robes she had on the day before, she was dressed in a standard Hidden Sand uniform, including flak jacket and headband.

"We also took the liberty of knocking them out." Sasuke added. "They won't be trouble for a few days."

"Good. That gives me time to order them to stand down." Yoshitsune said. "That's where we'll be headed tomorrow."

"We?" Suigetsu raised an eyebrow.

Yoshitsune nodded. "Yes, _we._ There are other civilian settlements on the south coast. Actually, a _majority_ of civilian settlements are at the coast, since that's the easiest place to get water. None of them have an attack planned until the day after tomorrow, but that means we have the time to sweep the whole coast and order my troops to surrender."

"What about the settlements which _aren't_ along the coast?" Sasuke asked. "If there's no attack along the coast, then the next attack is somewhere else."

"We're leaving those to the Leaf team." Kankuro said. "They'll be showing up tomorrow morning, shortly after you'll have left. The in-land settlements are closer to the village and scattered fairly evenly… so a certain set of Shadow Clones can reach them all by 2:00 PM."

"Naruto." Sasuke inferred. _Gaara did say he's been specifically ordered to assist in the mission…_ he thought.

"Yes." Gaara confirmed. "We'll have the real Naruto and his team head for the settlement scheduled for attack, while Naruto will send one Shadow Clone to all other in-land settlements and sense out the malicious intent coming from the Curse Mark Army, at which point he'll co-operate with the guards already stationed there to incapacitate the enemy. Ideally, between both your teams the whole country should be safe within two-"

"Excuse me!" Karin interrupted. "Naruto can sense malicious intent? I thought _**I**_ was the only one alive who could do that!"

"Naruto is half-Uzumaki, Karin." Sasuke explained. "You might have a common ancestor that your ability comes from. Even so, Naruto isn't _nearly_ as good at it as you are; he needs to be using the Nine-Tails' chakra to access that ability, and even then his sensing is restricted to malicious intent. He can sense chakra the usual way by going into Sage Mode as well, but his range is limited compared to yours unless he uses Shadow Clones to multiply his area of effect, and his sensing isn't detailed enough to detect lies the way you can no matter what he does. In short, Naruto needs to use a _lot_ of energy to even come _close_ to what you're capable of with ease."

Karin's eyes widened with surprise. "Oh wow. When you said that _no one in the world_ is a better sensor than me, you really _meant_ it!"

"At any rate," Gaara interjected, "we've prepared meals and beds for you, and have included a set of four soldier pills for each of you to take before you depart so you can hunt the enemy without having to stop for rest. Granted, Sasuke might not need to take his, since the effects of his previous soldier pill will not wear off for another two sunsets… I suggest eating and sleeping as quickly as you can; you're set to leave at 5:00 AM. Yoshitsune, take them to your quarters."

"Yes, Lord Kazekage." Yoshitsune replied as she began to walk out of the Kazekage's office, motioning Taka to follow her along the way.

"Hold on!" Temari shouted, catching Yoshitsune's attention. Temari walked up to her mentor, pulled out her closed fan, and handed it to her. "I think you'll need this where you're going."

Yoshitsune bowed and gracefully accepted the gift. "It's been four years since I gave you this fan… It means as much to me as it does to you, so I'll make sure to take good care of it until I can return it to you when the mission is over, unlike the one I carelessly destroyed last night…"

"Don't worry about that!" Temari smiled. "We can forge a new fan for you, together, when we're finished with the task at hand. I'll even go out and collect the pieces of your old one so we can use them in the forging!"

"I would… appreciate that." Yoshitsune smiled in turn, putting Temari's fan at her back. "Anything else you have to say before we hit the hey?"

"Yeah, actually… The uniform you have on now? It looks _way_ better than what you were wearing yesterday."

Yoshitsune was speechless.

Suddenly, Temari hugged her mentor and let out a single tear of joy. "I'm so glad you're back, Yoshitsune-Senpai!"

Yoshitsune reciprocated the embrace. "Glad to _be_ back, Temari-chan…"

"Hey Gaara, I think this is the first time I've ever seen Temari openly display her affection." Kankuro whispered into his brother's ear.

"It can't be helped." Gaara closed his eyes in contemplation as he whispered back. "Even though she's the oldest, Temari would have still been too young to remember much of Mother. In a sense, _Yoshitsune_ became Temari's mother figure. Reuniting with one's parents and learning they truly did love you despite all evidence to the contrary… I know how that feels intimately well…"

At that moment, as Sasuke was about to leave the Kazekage's office with Taka, he noticed a very peculiar sight. It almost seemed like an illusion, but Sasuke swore he could see a blue wisp, in the shape of a petite woman, hugging Gaara from behind.

 _What the hell is that?_ Sasuke thought.

[X-X-X]

Just like Gaara instructed, Taka and Yoshitsune ate their dinner and slept until shortly before 5:00 AM. Right at the hour, they took off after everyone except Sasuke ate the soldier pills. Their first destination was the southern end of the border to the Land of Rivers, intent on following the south coast of the Land of Wind from that point westward until reaching the last settlement. Along their path Karin sensed out any hostile Orochimaru chakra, and Yoshitsune ordered the squad to stop attacking, and in the cases where an attack was already made, ordered them to aid in reconstruction. When they reached Shimeri Suna Estate, rather than sense for chakra, Sasuke led the group to the downed soldiers' location and Yoshitsune woke them up and stopped any further attacks.

When they reached the last settlement, it was dusk of the following day. At that time, Sasuke ate the next soldier pill so he wouldn't need rest on the return trip. Not needing to rush back, Odaka took her time coming back to the Hidden Sand Village. By the time they returned, it was around 5:00 AM two days after leaving. They went to report their success to the Kazekage's office, only to find the Leaf ninja team also present to do the same thing.

"Oy, Sasuke! Long time, no see!" Naruto raised his prosthetic right arm for a fist bump.

"It's only been _two weeks_ since I left, idiot." Sasuke responded, meeting Naruto's right fist with his own. When he did, he noticed the other Leaf ninja in the team. Along with Naruto were Rock Lee, bushy-brows Taijutsu specialist and one of the few people alive who might be faster than Sasuke; Tenten, weapons-user who lost horribly to Temari in the Chunin Exams as he learned recently; and Hinata Hyuga, Sasuke's academy classmate and the one Fuzai's father tried to kidnap 14 years ago.

"Save the reunions for later." Gaara commanded. "How were your missions?"

"Complete success." Sasuke and Naruto said in unison.

"That's incredible…" Gaara sighed with relief. "Thanks to your efforts, the whole Land of Wind has been saved…"

"Gaara!" someone shouted from out the window.

To Sasuke's surprise, it was Temari, who was… floating in midair and holding some fragments of Yoshitsune's fan. Kankuro was right beside her. Behind them were the Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi, two other Rock ninja he couldn't recognize, and the massive ball of cloth holding one third of Yoshitsune's Curse Mark Army.

"What's going on, Temari?" Gaara asked, confused as anyone else.

"Well, Kankuro and I were looking for Yoshitsune-Senpai's fan fragments, and Lord Tsuchikage and his team showed up in response to our distress call. Apparently they came across the scar Sasuke made with Susano'o on their way here, and Lord Tsuchikage made the ball of cloth weightless and took it with him, concerned whatever was inside it might be starving. Lord Tsuchikage and Kurotsuchi also have some things they need to speak with you about."

"Alright, but tell them to put the ball of cloth on the roof first. Yoshitsune will release their bonds and change their orders."

"Yes sir!" Yoshitsune exclaimed as she rushed out the door and headed for the stairs to the roof.

[X-X-X]

When Onoki finished placing the ball of cloth on the roof of the Kazekage's building, he flew in to Gaara's office along with the rest of his team, Kankuro, and Temari.

"We've got three things we need to speak with you about, Kazekage." Onoki said.

"And what would they be?" Gaara asked.

"First of all, you sent out a distress call, but it seems to me like you and those Leaf kids already took care of it."

"Ah, of course…" Gaara crossed his arms. "We'll send the Hidden Rock half the payment this mission would have earned you, since you were so kind to respond regardless…"

"Funny thing you mention that…" Onoki grinned, albeit in a disappointed manner, "Because you failed to respond to the Hidden Rain's distress call! If Uchiha-boy and his team didn't happen to arrive when they did, the Hidden Rain Village might have been destroyed by now!"

Gaara kneeled. "I apologize on behalf of the entire village. We will compensate the Hidden Rain more than what we'd be paid for responding, as soon as we finish with reconstruction."

"Don't bother waiting that long… I would be happy to send the Hidden Rain your village's compensation myself. It will save your village time and resources, and I'll get the mission's worth of exercise anyway. Everybody wins!"

 _And besides, Lady Ameko is one beautiful woman. I'd love to see her again just once more before I die…_ Onoki finished in his head.

"But you're the Tsuchikage…" Gaara responded. "Are you sure you have enough free time to do that yourself?"

"About that!" Kurotsuchi interjected. "The distress call ruined his plans, but as soon as Grandpa and I return to the Hidden Rock, he's stepping down!"

Everyone in the room was shocked, most of all Naruto and Gaara.

"No way!" Naruto objected. "Old Man Tsuchikage has way too much spirit to retire!"

"My spirit may be young, boy, but my body's gotten _old_!" Onoki rebutted. "During my last battle my back started cramping at the worst possible time! I was lucky to make it out alive! Could you trust _yourself_ with being Hokage if you had a condition like that?!"

"I guess not… So who did you pick for your successor, if you don't mind me asking?"

At that moment Kurotsuchi made a wide grin and raised her hands in the air:

"That would be _**me!**_ "

Everyone present was even more shocked than with Onoki's announcement of stepping down, stunned speechless.

Everyone but two, that is.

"Allow me to break up the silence!" Suigetsu grinned. He walked up to Kurotsuchi and offered a handshake. "I for one think you'll make a great Tsuchikage! I remember how amazing you were when we fought Warushizen together!"

" _ **Suigetsu?!**_ " Karin shouted, incredulous.

"I think that Kurotsuchi-san would do a good job as well…" Hinata added, smiling. "I know because we were in the same division during the war… I saw how strong you were with my own eyes."

" _ **Hinata?!**_ " Naruto shouted, also incredulous.

"Well it's nice to know at least _some_ people believe in me!" Kurotsuchi shook Suigetsu's hand and waved at Hinata with her other one. Her gaze then shifted back to Suigetsu, starting to blush:

"I hear the Land of Wind has a very nice wedding spot… so what do you say? Want to be the future Tsuchikage's husband?"

Everyone was shocked even further by such a public proposal, most especially Karin, who was so enraged she was foaming at the mouth and rolling on the floor. Suigetsu took one glance back at Karin, and then focused his attention back to Kurotsuchi.

"Sorry Kurotsuchi, but no," Suigetsu said while turning his hand into water, removing it from Kurotsuchi's grip. Then he walked over to Karin, helped her up, and held hands with her:

"As you can see, I'm already taken."

"Wow, Sasuke." Naruto whispered into the Uchiha's ear. "Your teammate's got a lot of balls to reject the next Tsuchikage in front of so many people…"

"You held hands with Hinata in front of _the whole Alliance_ , idiot." Sasuke whispered back. "Compared to _that,_ Suigetsu's display is _tame._ "

Naruto's face went blank as he turned to face Hinata, and then quickly turned back to face Sasuke.

"How… do you know that anyway?"

"Sakura told me while we were in the hospital after our big fight. Now break away from me before Hinata gets suspicious!"

At that moment, Naruto promptly stepped away from Sasuke.

"Eh… it doesn't matter!" Kurotsuchi replied to Suigetsu. "I'm still planning on celebrating becoming Tsuchikage at _Shimeri Suna Estate_ anyway! And everyone in this room is invited to my party! Let's all go to the beach together!"

Onoki shook his head. "Everyone here except us, my dear."

Kurotsuchi looked behind her. "Why can't you come, Grandpa?!" she asked frantically.

"Because we'll be delivering the Hidden Sand's compensation to the Hidden Rain. And you wouldn't want a dirty old man like me cramping your youthful style anyway!"

Kurotsuchi sighed. "All right… I guess it's just the eleven of us then!"

"Ten of us," Gaara closed his eyes. "I cannot join you either. As Kazekage, I have to oversee the country's reconstruction. I don't have the time to be enjoying myself on a beach…"

"Come on! I was hoping to have at least one Kage present!"

"That being said …" Gaara continued, "… I will provide all the funding you will need for an enjoyable party. Consider it part of my payment for your answering my distress call. Furthermore, Temari and Kankuro will escort you home when the party is finished. We can't very well risk the next Tsuchikage not making it back to their village by having them travel _alone_ , now can we?"

"Oh… then thank you so much! Anyone else got any objections to coming along?!"

"Actually, we do." Sasuke said. "Taka needs to hurry along and finish its mission."

"Damn it, man!" Suigetsu crossed his arms in protest.

"Yeah!" Karin added. "This is the third time _in a row_ you rejected an innocent break from our mission! First we flew past the Hidden Whirlpool Village. Then you refused to train with the Raikage! And now this! It's like we aren't allowed to have any fun or something!"

"On top of that," Suigetsu continued, "we only have two targets left! And we cleared all the A-Class ones! We deserve some sort of ' _celebration_ ' too, don't you think?!"

"I… Okay…" Sasuke relented. "We'll tag along… besides, you two just became a couple and I've denied you any time to really enjoy that, what with Temari and Yoshitsune splitting up your seating on Odaka…"

At those words, Karin and Suigetsu hugged each other and jumped for joy.

"Are you Leaf ninja down for the ride?!" Kurotsuchi asked.

"Definitely!" Naruto smiled. "There's no way we'd miss such a rare opportunity to catch up with Sasuke!"

"You're the only one who actually cares about that." Tenten remarked.

"That is _not_ true!" Lee rebutted. "A rematch with Sasuke Uchiha is something I have been wanting for years!"

Tenten promptly smacked her own forehead. _We're going to a_ _ **party,**_ _not a Taijutsu tournament…_ she thought.

"Regardless…" Hinata interjected, "We will be able to make some new friends as well as see old ones… I want to go too."

"Majority rule, Tenten!" Naruto remarked. "We're going!"

"Then it's settled!" Kurotsuchi lit up, counting everyone's heads, excluding Gaara and the other Rock ninja but including herself. "Five guys and five girls… it's a perfect split! Alright, Leaf, Mist and Sand ninja! Get ready for the Fourth Tsuchikage's beach party!"


	26. Chapter 25: Reality and Illusions

_Dammit… they're all too revealing…_ Karin thought in irritation as she opened her locker and saw the assortment of swimsuits available for her. Initially, she was excited to finally take a hard-earned break from her mission at Shimeri Suna Estate and potentially go on a date with Suigetsu. But now, after seeing the swimsuits that were provided in the ladies' changing room, she wasn't so sure she would enjoy the party. She closed the locker door, sat down on the bench underneath, and sighed.

"Is anything wrong?" a sweet and soft voice asked from Karin's right.

"Who's asking?" Karin responded as she turned to meet the voice next to her, too disappointed to put up her usual abrasive attitude. Who she saw was a woman about Karin's own height, with long dark hair tied in a ponytail and wearing an orange one-piece swimsuit.

"I don't think we've introduced ourselves before. My name's Hinata Hyuga." she said. "What's yours?"

"Karin… Karin Uzumaki…"

"Uzumaki… Are you related to Naruto-kun?"

"We come from the same clan… But I've never even talked to him. So I wouldn't call each other ' _family_ ', if that's what you're asking…"

"Oh." Hinata shook her head and brushed off whatever she was thinking about. "You seem upset, Karin-san."

Karin hung her head. "It's the swimsuits. All of them are too revealing for me."

"There are one-piece swimsuits too… I picked it out since I don't like revealing much either…"

"You don't get it… Even _your_ swimsuit shows off some cleavage and reveals your shoulders. Try looking through my clothes with those fancy eyes of yours. Maybe you'll have an idea then…"

At the suggestion, Hinata activated her Byakugan and noticed many bite marks all over Karin's arms and upper torso.

"I see…" Hinata turned her Byakugan off and looked away.

"So what do I do?" Karin asked.

"You don't need to change if you don't want to. Just go out like that."

"You know what…" Karin took off her thigh-high sandal-boots and then turned around and opened her locker door. "I don't need to get in one of those… but I can still enjoy the warm sand and cool water on my feet!"

Karin then put her sandal-boots in her locker and took the towel out, and subsequently closed and locked her locker. "Thanks Hinata!"

"You're welcome, Karin-san…" Hinata smiled as she waved across the changing room to Temari, Tenten, and Kurotsuchi. "We're ready to head out!"

"Don't be leaving without the _star_ of this party!" Kurotsuchi protested. "I still need to pick my swimsuit! And as for those two…"

Kurotsuchi pointed to Tenten and Temari, who simultaneously pulled out the most revealing white bikini they could find from their lockers. Satisfied that they were identical, Temari and Tenten undressed, put the swimsuits on, and faced each other.

"Hey, Future Tsuchikage!" Temari called out to Kurotsuchi, who was behind Tenten from where she was standing. "Which of us is bigger?"

Kurotsuchi walked around to between the two of them and looked at Tenten and Temari's breasts very closely.

"Umm… they're pretty close, but I think Temari's are just a _tiny bit_ bigger." Kurotsuchi declared.

"Huh." Temari smirked, her hands on her hips, "Seems like I win _again_."

"No fair!" Tenten objected. "You're two years older than me! When I hit twenty, you'll see…"

"Like that matters." Temari said while taking a towel out of her locker. "Just look at Hinata over there; she's the youngest one here and yet her boobs are _easily_ the biggest of the bunch."

Hinata put her arms over her chest from across the room. "You're embarrassing me, Temari-san…"

 _Now that she mentions it…_ Karin thought, _Hinata's got massive jugs… But on top of that, she has nice curves all over… and she's got a soft face… She's certainly pretty enough, and she seems very nice and patient enough to deal with anyone…_ "So, Hinata…" she said with a devilish grin.

"Yes, Karin-san?" Hinata asked with a slight shiver.

"Are _you_ Sasuke's girlfriend?"

Karin's question shocked Hinata speechless for a few seconds.

"No way!" Hinata eventually screamed. "I don't even _like_ Sasuke-kun!"

Karin was in complete disbelief. "How… How can that actually be _**true?**_ I thought every girl in the world liked Sasuke without exception! Even the _Mizukage_ displayed some fucking interest!"

"There's only one man I have feelings for, Karin-san." Hinata's tone became serious and sharp, unlike her previous softness, surprising Karin. "And that person is…"

[X-X-X]

Meanwhile, in the men's' changing room…

"Hinata's in love with me?! _Like that?!_ " Naruto exclaimed in total shock.

"Only an idiot like you would miss it…" Sasuke said, sitting beside him, his locker and Naruto's being next to each other.

"But… when? When did this happen?"

" _When?_ She's been in love with you from _the very beginning_ , you idiot. Ever since you met in the academy!"

"How did you… figure that out? I don't remember you two ever talking to each other, even back then…"

"It was very easy to spot from my point of view regardless. You remember how all the girls in our class were attracted to me, right?"

"Yeah… It was one of the things that kept me from being your friend… Not only were you at the top of our class, you also got everyone's attention without even trying. I was so jealous of you…"

"Well… there was one exception." Sasuke revealed, Naruto's eyes widening in comprehension. "Hinata. She was the one girl in our class that never paid any attention to me. She never even _looked_ at me… because she was busy watching _you._ "

Naruto started to cry. "So for all those years in the academy… Before Iruka-Sensei acknowledged me… when I thought I was completely alone in the world… I _wasn't?_ Hinata was watching over me and believing in me the whole time?"

"That's right. While most of the village hated you for what the Nine-Tails did, and while I was too obsessed with getting revenge on Itachi to care about you either way, Hinata wanted to be by your side, supporting you and believing in you and protecting you all at once. While the world's come to acknowledge you for _who you've become_ , Hinata's been acknowledging you for _who you always were_. She was just too quiet to make her voice heard at the time… To be honest, I thought you already figured it out."

"Why is that?" Naruto wondered, still teary-eyed.

"When Sakura told me about how you held hands with Hinata during the war, she told me that when you did it, you told Hinata, ' _thank you for being by my side this whole time_ '. I thought that maybe you learned just how long she's wanted to _be_ at your side, and that was your way of letting her know how much you appreciated it. Seems like I was wrong…"

"That was right after Neji died… I wasn't really thinking straight. Hinata helped me restore my resolve and I said and did the first things that came to mind to show my gratitude…"

Suddenly, Sasuke started giggling faintly.

"What's so funny about _that,_ huh?!" Naruto asked in irritation.

"It's just… I know just why you did it! My god, you're even _dumber_ than I thought!"

"And what's that supposed to _mean_ , bast-"

Naruto's curse was cut off by Sasuke pressing his index and middle fingers on Naruto's forehead:

"It means you love her back, you idiot. You're so stupid that you don't even know your own feelings!"

"I'm in love with _**Hinata?**_ What about Sakura-chan?"

"What _about_ Sakura?"

"I'm not following…"

"Why did you start liking Sakura in the first place?"

"Well…" Naruto contemplated for a few seconds. "I didn't know myself for a while, but I got my answer when I transformed into you and Sakura-chan almost kissed me. She confessed to me that she was desperate for your acknowledgement… and that was something we had in common: being desperate for your acknowledgement."

"And what did you and Sakura talk about the most while I wasn't around?"

"That would be… _you._ I promised Sakura-chan that I'd save you, and when I failed she promised me that we'd save you together… When Sai first joined our team Sakura-chan and I compared him to you believing he'd never fill the hole you left behind… When I first learned Rasen Shuriken and Sakura-chan was treating me in the hospital, we talked about how I might have been strong enough to finally take you back… Even when Sakura-chan made her confession to me, it was ultimately about her _giving up on you_ more than being in love with me, and me believing she'd never give up on you completely, and me calling her out on her lie… Looking back, every single important conversation that we ever had was related to _you_ in some way, Sasuke…"

"Now that that's clear…" Sasuke took a deep breath. "Let me ask you one final question."

"Alright, shoot."

"Tell me, Naruto… If you remove your shared desire for my acknowledgement and wanting to save me… _What's left of your bond?_ "

Sasuke's question made Naruto freeze, unable to provide an answer.

"I don't know…" Naruto eventually admitted.

"That's what I've been driving at from the start." Sasuke concluded. "Your feelings for Sakura were never real. They were nothing more than an _illusion_ you created. You made yourself believe you were in love with Sakura because _her_ love for me reminded you of _your_ love for me _ **.**_ You projected the desire you had to get close to me _onto her._ That's all it was."

"Why are you… so sure? It's as if you're speaking from experience…"

" _I am._ What you did with Sakura is exactly the same thing I did with Taka."

"Taka?"

"The team I formed after I left. You've met all of them by now. Jugo, Karin, and Suigetsu… Jugo was the one who fought with us against Obito, and Karin and Suigetsu are the couple that held hands in front of Kurotsuchi. I wasn't sure until recently, but I formed the team and grew to 'care' about them because they reminded me of Team Seven on the surface. Jugo, like Kakashi, is a very nice guy at first glance but is deadly if you piss him off. Suigetsu, like you, is an overconfident idiot getting in way over his head with a big dream; he wants to collect all Seven Swords of the Mist and you want to become Hokage. And Karin, like Sakura, used to put all her focus on me to the exclusion of all else… Of course, that's where the similarities end, but I didn't know or care about that until I started going on this journey. The point is, no matter how much I wanted to deny it, there was a part of me that wanted to go back home and restore my bonds with Team Seven. I think creating Taka… was a way for me to appease that part of me while trying to reject it."

"And you're saying that my crush on Sakura-chan was my way of… _appeasing_ the part of me that wanted to become your friend and your brother, instead of your rival? So I was getting close to Sakura-chan so I could avoid getting close to _you?_ But I _accepted_ that part of myself during our first fight at the Valley of the End!"

Sasuke stood up and turned around, opening his locker for his towel. "And that's why Sakura returning your crush _no longer mattered_ after that, didn't it?"

"Now that you mention it… You're right! After fighting with you four years ago, I stopped caring whether Sakura-chan noticed me or not. All that mattered was that you were back and that she was happy. Rather than pursue romance from Sakura-chan… I was pursuing friendship from you!"

"And now you can stop pretending with Sakura and pursue romance for real."

"Hold on… you said something strange. You said I was an overconfident idiot getting in way over my head… but that was _also_ an illusion."

"It was?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I only boasted as a way to hide my insecurities. I didn't have any _real_ confidence in myself until… I made this very confession to Hinata four years ago before my fight with Neji in the Chunin Exam finals, and Hinata helped me realize how awesome I really was…"

"I think that was the moment then… The moment you fell in love with Hinata."

"That… makes a lot of sense! It was the first time I ever let my guard down for anyone… That I even _did_ that must have meant I already trusted her more than I did anyone else. And after she saved me, I told Hinata that I was wrong about my first impression of her and that I actually really liked her… It's just that I didn't realize in what _way_ I liked her until now."

"So I bet you can imagine how Hinata must be feeling after you held her hand in front of the whole alliance… and never followed up on it." Sasuke remarked.

Naruto remained silent in thought for a few seconds, but he suddenly screamed:

"Oh my god! Hinata… she must be devastated! I practically tell the whole world _'this is my woman!_ ' and then I don't do anything else with her for over two months! We went to Neji's funeral together, and Hinata saw me in the hospital a couple times, and there was our mission just now… but other than that we never saw each other! I didn't even give her a _birthday present_ , since I had no idea what she'd like… Hinata must think I want nothing more to do with her! What do I do, Sasuke?!"

"Someone once told me that men are supposed to make women happy. So cheer her up. Hinata's here with you and this is a party, after all. Beyond that… just _be yourself;_ Hinata isn't interested in anyone else." Sasuke finished by closing up his locker and walking to the exit door. "But hurry up, will you? We're late enough as it is. Such tardiness is one thing we _don't_ want to emulate from Kakashi…"

Naruto looked around to find that Lee, Suigetsu, and Kankuro were already gone.

"Holy shit you're right!" Naruto shouted as he jumped up from the bench, then turned around, got a towel out of his locker, subsequently closed it, and swiftly followed Sasuke out the door.

The Shimeri Suna Estate party was about to begin.


	27. Chapter 26: Getting the Party Started

"Yeah, this one's perfect!" Kurotsuchi pulled a swimsuit out of her locker, quickly undressed, and put it on. From across the ladies' changing room, Karin could see that Kurotsuchi decided on a red two-piece swimsuit. The top half was a cloth wrap that resembled a tube top, but with a portion going over her left shoulder, while the bottom half was a pair of shorts… with only the right pant leg. Karin figured that Kurotsuchi was drawn to the swimsuit because the asymmetry matched the kind her usual outfit had.

 _Of course the Kazekage would include a swimsuit tailor-made for_ _ **her**_ _of all people…_ Karin thought.

"Let's head out to the beach, everyone!" Kurotsuchi shouted as she took out her towel, slammed her locker shut, and rushed out the exit door. Tenten and Temari followed her, with Karin and Hinata shortly behind.

When the ladies made their way outside, they could see Rock Lee, Suigetsu, and Kankuro already setting their towels on the sand, marking the group's meeting spot. The five kunoichi walked up to them for greetings… or at least, that's what the guys thought.

"Just who gave you permission to set up camp without _**me**_ , huh?!" Kurotsuchi admonished, but examined the area, contemplating the guys' choice. "… Still, I like this spot. Let's use it!"

At her instructions, the women set their towels down nearby.

Lee promptly apologized with a bow: "We are terribly sorry for making such assumptions, Lady Tsuchikage!"

"And just what the hell are you wearing _that_ for, Lee?" Tenten asked, having noticed that Rock Lee did _not_ change into a swimsuit. Instead, he only removed his flak jacket and sandals, still wearing his Might Suit and leg warmers.

"You must know that I have to represent Guy-Sensei whenever I am training!"

"But you're _not_ training! You're at a beach party!"

"Nonsense, Tenten! You can train even _while_ at a beach party!"

"Actually…" Karin interjected as her face turned red. "Do you have a _spare_ of those suits, Lee?"

"I _always_ have a spare, just like Guy-Sensei!" Lee gave a thumbs-up and winked to Karin. "Why, do you want to try it on? It is one-size-fits-all!"

"Yeah…" Karin answered, everyone present except Lee and Hinata doubling over in disbelief. "It'd be the _perfect_ swimsuit for me… if it was a different colour at least. Do you have a red one, maybe?"

Lee shook his head. "Sorry, but I do not have that! The Might Suit only comes in _green_ , for whoever wears it becomes a _Green Beast!_ "

"Oh… then never mind…" Karin looked away, dejected.

"Why the fuck would you even want to wear something as gaudy as that, anyway?!" Suigetsu shouted as he recovered from the face-fault he gave himself earlier.

"You're one to talk!" Karin pointed at Suigetsu. "Like you could _possibly_ resist the idea of me wearing a skin-tight body suit!"

After a second of deliberation and imagining Karin wearing red spandex, Suigetsu slowly nodded with a slight blush. "You… have a point there, Karin…"

"On top of that, what you're wearing is pretty _gaudy_ too!" Karin said, as Suigetsu was wearing nothing but a purple speedo.

"There's a rule against total nudity here! I wanted to be _completely naked_ , but I couldn't. This is the next best thing!"

"Us guys aren't the only ones with questionable swimsuit choices, you know…" Kankuro interjected. His choice of swimsuit consisted of black shorts and a black swimming cap. "Why are you and Tenten wearing matching swimsuits, Temari?" he asked.

Tenten's eye twitched as she tried to respond. "Umm… that's…"

"We were comparing our busts." Temari nonchalantly explained. "Wanted to see which of us had the _second_ biggest chest here. Turns out I-"

"Excuse me, but! …" Hinata interrupted. "Where are Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun?"

"Oh, them?" Kankuro replied. "They're still in the guys' changing room. We tried to get them to come along with us several times, but they were so focused on each other nothing worked. So we decided it'd be best if we just let them catch up and start the party without them…"

"Not so fast!" Karin objected. "There was a _lie_ in that story just now! What's really going on with them?!"

Before Karin could interrogate Kankuro further however, the group heard a door opening in the direction of the changing rooms. They turned to see Sasuke walking out the door with Naruto right behind him. Sasuke was wearing blue shorts with a snake-themed pattern and sunglasses over his eyes. Naruto, by contrast, was wearing orange shorts with a toad-themed pattern and goggles at his forehead.

"Sorry, but it's only natural for _heroes_ to arrive late!" Naruto said as they arrived at the meeting spot.

Sasuke sighed. "We're not heroes _this_ _time_ , idiot. We're Kurotsuchi's _guests…_ "

"Why the shades, Sasuke?" Karin asked, doing her best to hold back her arousal in front of Suigetsu.

"My eyes freaked out the nurse when we went to replace your glasses. With these, I won't scare any civilians we might meet today."

"Before anyone asks, the goggles aren't for any pragmatic reason like that!" Naruto interjected. "I just felt like wearing them because I wore goggles when I was in the Academy, you know…"

"Actually, we _didn't_ know that." Tenten remarked. "The only ones who were in the Academy with you were Sasuke and Hinata; Lee and I were in the previous year and everyone else is from a different village!"

"Don't be so rough on him, Tenten-san!" Hinata protested.

Upon hearing Hinata's voice, Naruto looked her way, and was completely mesmerized by the beauty he saw. He was rendered speechless for a few seconds, unable to do anything but stare in wonder, his towel dropping to the sand below. This feeling, however, was cut short when he felt a sharp poke to the back of his neck.

"What was that for, Sasuke?!" Naruto shouted, turning to look back at him.

"Don't just stand there, idiot!" Sasuke shouted back. "Do something!"

Everyone had confused looks on their faces in response to Sasuke's outburst. But the confusion ceased when Naruto walked up to Hinata.

"Hinata…" Naruto unknowingly blushed.

"What is it, Naruto-kun?" Hinata blushed in turn.

"It's just…" Naruto struggled to put together his sentence, "… it's the first time I've ever seen you reveal so much of your figure, and…"

"Am I revealing _too much?!_ " Hinata panicked and tried to cover her breasts with her arms. "I can go back to the changing room and get my jack-"

Hinata was cut off by Naruto cupping her right cheek with his left hand.

"Not at all," Naruto shook his head, and then looked into Hinata's eyes. "What I meant to say was that it's the first time I've ever seen so much of your figure, and you look _amazing!_ " He concluded with a wide smile.

"Do you really mean that, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as she held Naruto's left hand with her right and let her left arm fall to her side. All of a sudden, Naruto took his right arm and hugged Hinata close to him, then moved his left arm to fully embrace her with both.

"Of course I do, Hinata." Naruto said softly, closing his eyes. "I would never try to deceive you. And even if I _did_ , your eyes would see the real me anyway. They always have before…"

Hinata responded to this by hugging Naruto in turn and relaxing her head on Naruto's shoulder, smiling: "You know, along with not revealing much, I chose this swimsuit because orange is your favourite colour… I was hoping you'd like it."

Naruto hugged Hinata even tighter. "Then I'd say mission accomplished."

"Okay, that's enough of the romantic crap!" Kurotsuchi interjected, sitting on her towel, alerting everyone and breaking up Naruto and Hinata's hug. "Help me figure out what we're going to do at this party!"

Suddenly, the whole group heard a loud piercing sound.

"Attention! Attention! Volleyball tournament registration ends in fifteen minutes. I repeat: Volleyball tournament registration ends in _**fifteen minutes!**_ " a somewhat distorted voice echoed from some unknown location. Hinata activated her Byakugan to try to locate the source of the sound, and she spotted someone at the top of a step-ladder about 100 metres away holding a megaphone.

"Whatever that is, it sounds _fun!_ " Kurotsuchi shouted. "Let's sign up!"

"There's a problem." Kankuro objected. "Volleyball is played with teams of six people. There are ten of us."

"What even _is_ Volleyball?" Suigetsu asked.

"We don't have the time to explain it in detail," Temari said, "but it's a game that's pretty popular along the coast of the Land of Wind. Kankuro and I took Gaara here to celebrate his becoming Kazekage, and we saw a tournament played when we did, but we didn't have enough people to form a team to enter it ourselves. But now we do."

"So who's being left out, Temari?" Sasuke wondered.

"You and Karin, for starters. You need two hands to play Volleyball, and there's a risk a ball might hit your face, _especially_ if you've never played before."

"It's true that I don't want my glasses wrecked so shortly after replacing them…" Karin admitted.

"And without my left arm I can't play to begin with." Sasuke laid his towel down next to Suigetsu's and sat on it.

"What about the other two extras?" Tenten thought aloud.

"I have an idea!" Lee yelled. "I shall challenge one of you to a swimming contest! Any volunteers?!"

Naruto cracked his knuckles and smirked. "I'll take you on, Lee!"

"I can feel the youth returning, Guy-Sensei!" Lee shouted. "This shall be my first bout with a rival since the war ended!"

"So the team will be Tenten, Temari, Kankuro, Hinata, Suigetsu, and me… let's go!" Kurotsuchi said as she got up from her towel and started running in the direction of the megaphone. The rest of the team ran after her… except Hinata, who stood still for a few more seconds.

"What's keeping you, Hinata?" Naruto asked, concerned. "You're going to make everybody late."

"It just seemed like something was on your mind…" Hinata said.

"There is… there's something very important I have to talk to you about… but it can wait! Go on and have fun with everybody!"

Hinata held Naruto's left hand in both of hers and smiled. "Do your best against Lee-kun!"

Hinata happily let go and turned away, intent on catching up to the rest of the team. The remaining four were silent for a minute or so, making sure Hinata caught up with the rest. When they were satisfied, someone broke the silence:

"So how is our competition going to work, Lee?" Naruto asked.

"Let us see…" Lee walked over to the shore and motioned for Naruto to follow him. "We shall swim as far as we possibly can without using any chakra!"

"Without chakra?"

"Why, yes! We will need our chakra to _return_ _safely_ , so the first to use any jutsu loses! If I open the Gates, or if you use the Nine-Tails' chakra, then we are disqualified!"

"Yeah… I understand…" Naruto nodded. "But I know how you train! What happens to the loser?"

"Of course! The loser… upon returning here… must do 100 push-ups!"

"That's… not a very harsh punishment, Lee. Where's your youthful spirit?!"

"These are not just any 100 push-ups!" Lee pointed to Sasuke, still sitting on his towel some ways away, with Karin now sitting next to him. "The loser must do 100 push-ups with _Sasuke-kun sitting on them!_ "

Naruto's face went blank imagining it.

"And on top of that," Lee continued, "this must happen while _all the women are watching!_ "

" _All the women_ … you say?" Naruto responded in fear, but quickly regained his confidence. "You're on!"

Just then, Lee was about to rush in to the water, but Naruto stopped him. "Wait a minute, Lee! Take off your weights before we start. It would be unfair for you to be weighed down so much!"

"You are absolutely right, Naruto-kun!" Lee promptly bent down and pulled off the weights from inside his leg warmers, then held them up over his head, ready to drop them into the ground.

" _ **Not like that!**_ " Naruto shouted in panic. "There are ordinary people here who aren't ninja. If you drop your weights like you did in the Chunin Exams, then you'll freak them out with that explosion! Let's just… let them down gently at our base, okay? Sasuke can look after them…"

Lee nodded in affirmation and the two walked back to the meeting spot.

"Oy, Sasuke! Take care of this stuff while we're in the water!" Naruto demanded as he took his goggles off.

"Lee's weights and your goggles? I see… they'd both give you an unfair advantage, Naruto… Sure, I'll keep hold of them until your swimming contest is over."

With Sasuke's permission, Lee gently set his weights down on top of his towel and Naruto handed his goggles to Sasuke. Then Naruto and Lee headed back to the shoreline and ran into the water, starting their contest.

"So we're all alone now…" Karin remarked.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed into an accusatory glare. "You're not thinking of cheating on Suigetsu, are you?"

"Of course not! I hope you're not thinking of cheating on _your_ lover either!"

"I'm not, no…" Sasuke's voice went quiet.

It was then that Karin noticed a small white slug slithering from Sasuke's back up to his right shoulder, and then down his arm, stopping at the back of his hand. Sasuke muttered something that Karin couldn't quite make out. Karin changed her posture so most of her nearly bare legs could touch the sand as she prepared her inquiry.

"What's that slug on your hand? I'm not sure if I've seen it before…" Karin asked.

Sasuke's expression became warmer than usual at the question, and he opened his mouth in order to answer:

"This is…"


	28. Chapter 27: Kagura Uzumaki

When Kurotsuchi and the others came into proximity of the megaphone, they found a booth marked _Volleyball Tournament Registration_ , which Temari and Kankuro confirmed was where they needed to sign up. They saw a tanned man on the other side of the booth, which they assumed was one of the tournament's coordinators.

"Six of you? I assume you're here to sign your team up, then." The man said as he pulled out a sheet of paper with an empty table drawn on it, and placed it on the booth next to a pencil. "You guys are lucky; this is the last spot. Please fill this out with your team name at the top and the names and ages of the members in their starting positions. And please do it quickly."

"Hmm… Can you handle this, Temari?" Kurotsuchi moved aside.

"Alright…" Temari shrugged and picked up the pencil, writing down everyone's names and ages from top to bottom, and finishing with the team name at the top. She showed the paper to the rest of the group:

 _Team Name: No Karasu_

 _1: Tenten Age: 18_

 _2: Kankuro Age: 19_

 _3: Hinata Hyuga Age: 17_

 _4: Suigetsu Hozuki Age: 17_

 _5: Temari Age: 20_

 _6: Kurotsuchi Age: 18_

"Leave the questions for later. Trust me when I say this formation gives us the best chance at winning." Temari said. Kankuro nodded in agreement after looking the list over himself. Temari then turned around and handed the completed registration form to the booth's attendant.

"Team _No Karasu?_ Sounds odd, but it hasn't been taken by any other team, and it contains no vulgarity, so it's allowed." The attendant said. "Please come this way; you have half-an-hour to practice before the matches start."

At the attendant's behest, Team No Karasu followed him to one side of a box marked in the sand with white chalk, divided in half by a net suspended in midair by two poles. The attendant passed Temari a ball from outside the box and returned to his post, if only to close up shop.

"Why the name _No Karasu_ , Temari-san?" Hinata asked.

" _Karasu_ 's the name of the first puppet I ever used." Kankuro explained. "I figure Temari naming our team that is supposed to mean that we aren't going to use any ninjutsu, to be fair to the other players."

Temari nodded. "Kankuro's got it right."

"Who cares about the name?!" Kurotsuchi interjected. "What I want to know is why my name's _number 6_ on the list! As the star of the party, I ought to be _number 1!_ "

"Rather than just tell you, let me _show_ you why I chose the team's positions the way I did." Temari sighed as she walked to the back left of their side of the court, then turned around and looked at the team, still in the middle.

"Tenten, catch!" Temari suddenly threw the ball at the rest of the team, and everyone dispersed except Tenten, who caught the ball with both hands.

"What was that for?!" Tenten asked.

"Everything will be clear soon. Now go to the back right of the court; that's as far away from the net as I am, on the other side."

Confused as she was, Tenten followed Temari's orders. When Tenten reached the back right of the court, Temari changed her focus to the front of the court. Anticipating Temari's explanation, Kankuro had already gone to the front right of the court.

"Hinata, go to the front middle of the court, right up to the net. Suigetsu, you go to the front left." Temari continued. The Hyuga complied, looking back at Temari with confusion in her eyes. Suigetsu also followed his instructions with a shrug.

"What about me?!" Kurotsuchi asked from the back middle.

"Just move toward the net a few steps, so you're just behind that dotted line." Temari pointed to the aforementioned dotted line, marked with the same white chalk as the box. Kurotsuchi did so.

"Now everyone's in their starting positions." Temari revealed.

" _ **We are?!**_ " everyone except Temari and Kankuro asked in unison.

Kankuro nodded. "Yeah. The _Number 1_ spot refers to the back right, and goes counter-clockwise from there. Tenten has the ball because the _Number 1_ spot is where we serve."

" _Serve?_ " Tenten remained puzzled.

"The goal of Volleyball is to hit the ball into the other side of the court from above the net, without the opponents hitting it back." Temari explained. "Each team gets to hit the ball three times before sending it to the other side, without the same player hitting it twice in a row. Each round starts with one side hitting the ball into the other from just behind the back right… That's called the _serve._ "

"So I'm the first of us to serve…" Tenten stroked her chin. "That makes sense; after all, I _do_ have the best aim on the team!"

"What about _me_ , then?!" Suigetsu protested. "I have really good aim, too! Shouldn't I be _Number 2?!_ "

"No, you shouldn't." Temari shook her head. "That's because of how the team changes position. Every time we win a point when the opponent has the serve, we serve the next round, and when we do, the team _rotates clockwise_. When that happens, you would take Hinata's position while I'd take yours, and so on. Since Tenten's _Number 1_ and you're _Number 4_ , regardless of formation there will be a strong attacker both in the front _and_ in the back. Understood?"

Suigetsu took a moment to think. "Yeah, I do get that!" he eventually replied.

"So what do I do first, Temari-san?" Hinata asked.

"You're the team's primary blocker." Kankuro explained. "Since you're at the front middle of the court, most attacks will have to pass by you in order to get to our side. You can stop them by jumping and putting your hands in between a low-flying ball and our side of the court, blocking the ball's path. You might be the shortest on our team, but you're the only one with extensive Taijutsu training, so you have the fastest reflexes and can probably jump the highest as well… which makes you perfect for the blocker role."

Kurotsuchi stomped her feet. "And what role do _**I**_ have to justify being in the _Number 6_ spot?!"

"While it might seem like you're dead last, Kurotsuchi, your role is actually closer to being the _captain_ of the team." Temari said. "Remember how I said we get three hits to send the ball to the other side? Well, you usually get to hit it _second_. If the first hit reacts to the opponent's attack to keep the ball in play, and the third hit is our own attack into the opponent's court, what do you think the second hit is for?"

"The second hit is for… shifting the team's focus from defense to offense and setting up our counter-attack?"

"Exactly." Temari and Kankuro said in unison.

"So I pretty much get to _choose where we strike?!_ " Kurotsuchi asked in wonder.

"Yeah," Temari confirmed. "And because of your role as the _Setter_ , you're the only player that can cross into both the front court and the back court depending on the need. It's the right job for the _Future Tsuchikage_ , isn't it?"

"Wow, Temari-san." Hinata interjected. "Shikamaru-kun's brilliant strategies are rubbing off on you."

"Umm… Thank you, Hinata…" Temari trailed off into silence at the compliment.

"Hmm… _Captain Kurotsuchi_ … it has a nice ring to it!" the Rock Kunoichi exclaimed. "Very well, then! As your Captain, I shall lead _Team No Karasu_ to victory today!"

Kurotsuchi's voice suddenly lost some enthusiasm:

"… as soon as you teach us how to play."

[X-X-X]

Meanwhile, at home base…

"So Sakura, your girlfriend, gave this to you before you left the Hidden Leaf, Sasuke?" Karin asked, having been told about the Katsuyu fragment.

"That's the gist of it, yeah."

"Sakura… That name… it's familiar, but I can't put my finger on where I've heard it before…"

Sasuke shrugged. "I suppose it's natural you'd try to forget her. You already met her once before. It was… right after Danzo."

"Oh yeah… Her showing up stopped you from killing me… and then you tried to killer her instead… But then the soon-to-be Hokage showed up and stopped you… then she healed me… and after that she tried to kill you but couldn't go through with it… You reacted to it anyway and tried to kill her again… but then Naruto saved her and talked to you, refusing to give up on you despite what just happened… Looking back, I think it was _Naruto_ that convinced me to give you another chance after seeing everything you did… Yeah … I was just about done with you when he came in…"

"He has that effect on a lot of people. Sakura and Kakashi were also convinced I was a lost cause until Naruto arrived and restored their faith… though they both loved me too much to go all out."

"Even Kakashi?"

"He might not have faltered the way Sakura did, but I could tell he wasn't fighting his best. I was nearly blind from abusing the Mangekyo Sharingan and exhausted from the fight with Danzo. If Kakashi was serious about killing me he could have done so easily."

Karin rolled around so she was now lying on her stomach, itching to change the subject.

"So… if you have the power to summon Sakura any time you please… why don't you summon her _right now?_ " Karin asked.

Sasuke was taken aback by the suggestion. "Excuse me?"

"It's just, it's a party and you're not happy. Everything you've done so far… nothing's been for your _own_ enjoyment. You only agreed in the first place so that _Suigetsu and me_ could spend some time together, you've made it your job to help _Naruto and Hinata_ hook up, and you agreed to hold on to those goggles and weights to accommodate _Lee's_ training, when you could have easily told Naruto and Lee to stash their stuff in the changing room! But no, you chose to _**burden yourself**_ instead!"

"I could say the same thing about you, Karin. You could watch Suigetsu and the others play Volleyball rather than hold the fort here…"

Karin responded by swiftly sitting up so she was right next to Sasuke, sand making its way on to the towel she was sitting on, and pulled Sasuke's sunglasses off his face, forcing him to look her in the eyes.

"And leave you _all alone_ at a party? _**Not a chance in hell!**_ " Karin shouted. "I'm not leaving your side unless you summon Sakura! So tell me why you won't, dammit!"

"Sakura said it was only for emergencies… If I need an extra punch or healer, _then_ I'll summon her, but _now?_ I have no need for either of those skills. I… wouldn't want to upset her by summoning her when it isn't warranted."

"What you're saying is true… but I still don't think that's _the whole truth._ Sakura forgave you for _attempted murder_ ; she can forgive you for _unnecessary summoning!_ Hell, I bet Sakura would _**love**_ to spend a day on the beach with you! And you know it!"

Sasuke looked down in confusion. "I… don't know what else to say…"

"That's true too…" Karin sighed in failure. "I guess that means not even _you_ know why you won't summon Sakura…"

Sasuke made a faint grin at the notion.

"That isn't funny, you know…" Karin said.

"In the changing room, I told Naruto he was so stupid that he didn't know his own feelings. I guess he isn't the only one…"

Sasuke began thinking silently.

"What's on your mind, Sasuke?"

"How are you so sure there's more to me not summoning Sakura than what I said? Your lie-detecting showed both of my answers were true…"

"My lie-detecting ability isn't _**infallible!**_ " Karin confessed, bewildering Sasuke. "It surprised me as much as it's surprising you right now, believe me!"

"When did you figure that out?"

"In the Hidden Rain Village!"

Sasuke's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"You brought up Obito Uchiha… that calling himself Madara was a lie." Karin continued. "When I heard that, it occurred to me: Obito called himself Madara in front of me several times and _I never picked it up as a lie._ "

"That shouldn't be _possible…_ "

"But it _was_. And I think I know why. Obito told that particular lie so many times that his chakra must have gotten used to it, and over time the lie would have stopped disturbing his chakra. Obito effectively tricked his chakra into _believing his own lie_ through repetition."

"And you think something similar is going on with _me?_ That I'm telling a lie _to myself_ so much that my chakra's started to _believe_ that lie?"

Karin nodded. "You wouldn't refuse to summon Sakura so vehemently, despite being aware of the reasons why you _should_ , otherwise."

At that moment Karin decided to lie down on her back and simultaneously hand Sasuke back his sunglasses. "Now if you aren't going to change your mind about summoning her, I think I'll take a nap and tan my legs. Wake me up when someone else gets here, or if you want to talk about something else…"

Sasuke put his sunglasses back on as Karin closed her eyes.

[X-X-X]

An hour had passed uneventfully for Sasuke. The six who went to play Volleyball were still playing, Naruto and Lee hadn't yet returned from their swim-off, and Karin was still asleep right beside him. Sasuke also refused to move from his spot, partly to make sure nothing happened to Naruto's goggles and Lee's weights, but also because of Karin. She was adamant in her promise to Sasuke that she wouldn't leave him alone during the party, and as a result, Sasuke felt he had to make sure Karin wasn't alone at the party either. Nonetheless, Sasuke was getting bored of just sitting around. Karin offered to talk to him if he woke her up, and Sasuke was about to call that offer in:

"Karin, wake up!"

Sasuke forcefully poked her forehead from where he was sitting, just to Karin's left. Karin's eyes burst open and she sat up in shock.

"Sasuke? What's up?!" Karin asked, catching her breath.

"I wanted to talk to you. Your sensing and lie-detecting technique; it's called _Mind's Eye of the Kagura._ Why is it called that?"

"Oh, that?" Karin looked up as she answered. "The technique is named after its creator, Kagura Uzumaki the First. According to what Mom told me, only Kagura the First's direct descendants are capable of using that technique in any capacity… I'm one of them."

"Kagura Uzumaki _the First?_ So there were more?"

"Just _one_ more…" Karin clarified. "My mother: her name was _Kagura Uzumaki the Second_ , named after the first one. And I'm also… a _Second_."

Sasuke was amazed by the revelation. "Who was _Karin the First_ , then?!" He asked, totally curious. He first initiated the conversation just to relieve the boredom, but now he was enthralled; he _genuinely_ wanted to learn more about Karin's heritage and the Uzumaki clan.

"Karin Uzumaki the First, my namesake… was Kagura the First's daughter. Kagura the First was the mother to two children, a boy and a girl. The boy's name was Kamina, and the girl's was Karin. If I was ever told which child I'm a descendant of I've forgotten it, but Mom told me I was named Karin because she thought it'd be fitting to name the children of Kagura _the Second_ after the children of Kagura _the First_. If I was born a boy, then I would have been named _Kamina_ the Second."

"Wow… You know, being a _Second_ is something we have in common…"

"Really?! Who was Sasuke Uchiha _the First?!_ "

"They weren't an Uchiha, actually. Sasuke the First, _my_ namesake, was the Third Hokage's father, Sasuke _Sarutobi_. He led the Sarutobi clan when the Hidden Leaf Village was first created."

"I wonder if Sasuke Sarutobi and Karin the First ever met each other…"

"That would be an incredible coincidence… Anyway, for someone who claims to remember little of her mother, you seem to know a lot about her."

"When I say don't remember much, I mean it! She raised me pretty much on her own from the time I was born until I was seven. And the farther back I go, the less I remember… Aside from what I've told you just now and when we were in the Hidden Rain, the only things I remember from that time are Mom teaching me the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique… and when she died."

"Oh. I'm sorry… I know how much it must hurt to relive those painful memories, but… you say you _saw_ your mother die?"

"I didn't actually see it, no… I sensed Mom's chakra disappear. When Mom fled the Hidden Whirlpool Village during the Third Ninja World War like I told you before, she found her way to the Hidden Hot Water Village. I assume that I was born there, since my first memories are of that place, and we-"

"The Hidden _Hot Water_ Village?" Sasuke interrupted. "But weren't you a _Grass_ ninja in the Chunin Exams?"

"I'm getting to that! So anyway, Mom and I sensed a chakra with an _abnormally strong_ malicious intent coming from somewhere in the village… Mom told me to run to the outskirts of the village while she tried to stop the chakra before it could hurt anyone, and depending on whose chakra I felt disappear, to either leave the village or come back home…"

"… and the chakra you felt disappear was your mother's." Sasuke finished Karin's sentence for her.

"I didn't want to run away at first though… I only ended up running because I felt _more_ chakra disappear after that, and then I felt the _evil_ chakra coming closer to me… I was so scared I ran away… Eventually I found my way to the Hidden Grass Village and entered the Academy there…"

"So whoever killed your mother might still be on the loose."

Karin shook her head. "Don't try to find revenge for _my_ sake, Sasuke. We have no way of tracking them down. I don't remember their name, their face, or even their voice. The only thing I can recognize the killer by is their unforgettably _evil_ chakra… and I've never felt it sin-"

Karin cut herself off when she felt a tremendous surge of chakra in the direction of the water. She visibly shook from the incredible power in the distance. Sasuke put his hand on her left shoulder to help stabilize her.

"Do you feel it too, Sasuke?" Karin asked.

"Yeah. It's unmistakable… Naruto is using the Nine-Tails' chakra."


	29. Chapter 28: A Single Voice

After feeling Naruto using the Nine-Tails' chakra, Sasuke and Karin looked to the shore where Naruto and Lee left for their swimming contest. In a few minutes, they saw Naruto running on the water back to shore, his entire body glowing a bright yellow, creating big waves on either side of him as a result of his dash. When he got close to the shore, he deactivated Chakra Mode and let his legs sink into the water, hoping not to disturb the people at Shimeri Suna Estate. He looked back to the party's meeting spot to find Sasuke and Karin looking his way, his goggles and Lee's weights still present. In another minute or so, he made it back to base, meeting Sasuke's and Karin's confused faces.

"So what possessed you to go into Chakra Mode, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Well I was swimming alongside Lee for a while," Naruto started to explain, "but over time my strokes got into a comfortable rhythm and I started thinking about what I'd say to Hinata when I got back… Then my strokes started slowing down to focus on that more… and eventually I messed up and I started sinking!"

"… then you used Chakra Mode on instinct to save yourself and came back here?"

"That's about it, yeah…" Naruto concluded, his expression turning sour. "… But that also means I _lost_ to Lee…"

"You _idiot…_ " Sasuke tossed Naruto's goggles back to him. "You should have confessed to Hinata _right away._ Then you wouldn't have got distracted!"

Naruto picked up his towel and laid it out straight on the sand on the outskirts of the meeting spot, lying down on it. "Oh well…" he sighed. "Now all I can do is wait for everyone else to come back…"

"I don't think you'll have to wait that long." Karin interjected, pointing to a group of six walking closer to their position from the direction of the Volleyball courts. Naruto sat up to take a look at them. They were still ways away, but in the centre of the group Naruto could spot a woman wearing an orange one-piece swimsuit, and knew immediately who that group was. When they finally arrived, Team _No Karasu_ all looked upset, most of all Hinata, who had a bruise on her right shoulder.

"What happened, guys?!" Naruto shouted.

"We lost in the quarter-finals is what happened!" Suigetsu pointed at Hinata. "And it's all _this bitch's_ fault!"

At the insult, Naruto got up and punched Suigetsu in the face, but Suigetsu turned his head into water, nullifying the blow.

"Don't talk about Hinata like that!" Naruto screamed as he was punching, furious. However, Naruto's anger was calmed when he felt someone's arms wrap around him from behind… and a pair of large breasts make contact with his back.

"He's right, Naruto-kun…" Hinata said during her hug.

"Hinata?" Naruto turned his head, seeing Hinata's sad face from the corner of his eye.

"We were only two points behind… It was the opponent's serve… I felt that you were in danger, and despite our agreement not to use any jutsu, I used my Byakugan to see if you were okay… and while I was focused on you, the opposing team served in my direction and hit my arm… That cost us the match… So it _is_ my fault that we lost…"

Naruto looked down at himself, reflecting. _So we were both distracted by each other…_

"That's not entirely true, Hinata." Naruto objected, surprising everyone but Sasuke and Karin. "If I didn't panic in the water and put myself in danger in the first place, you wouldn't have gotten distracted. So your loss is as much _my_ fault as it is yours."

Suigetsu's eye twitched. "Is that so, huh? Then _**I**_ should be the one punching _**you**_ in the face!"

The Hozuki wound up for a punch, but Karin ran up to him and grabbed his arm before he could:

"Cut it out, Suigetsu! This is supposed to be a _**party!**_ "

"Karin?" Suigetsu relaxed his fist.

"First Sasuke burdens himself with Lee's weights, and now you and Naruto are _fighting?!_ This was supposed to be a _break_ from our mission, a way for us to _relax and enjoy_ _ourselves!_ You have a right to be frustrated that you lost, but don't take it out on the other guests! Especially not _Naruto!_ You and Naruto are both Sasuke's friends _;_ do you have any idea how Sasuke must be feeling seeing you two go at each other's throats over something as petty as a _lost volleyball game?!_ "

Karin's rant made Suigetsu go quiet for a few seconds, but after some thought he let down his fist and made a response:

"Yeah… you're right, Karin… I lost sight of why we're here. I'm sorry… but damn, I _still_ can't stand that Naruto cost us the match! He's got to _pay_ for what he's done, even if I'm not the one that does it!"

"Don't worry about that, Suigetsu." Sasuke spoke up as he walked in between both couples, smirking. "Naruto's getting his comeuppance sooner or later."

"And why is that, Boss?" Suigetsu asked.

"Because he just _lost a competition with Lee…_ " Tenten interjected.

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "It's just how Rock Lee operates. He always challenges himself by giving himself a punishment if he fails to meet his goal… and he holds his rivals to the same standard if he competes with them. I didn't actually hear what the punishment was for losing this contest, but when Lee comes back and finds that Naruto lost, he's going to make sure Naruto owns up to his failure and fulfills the punishment they agreed on at the start."

Naruto's face went blue with shock remembering what he had to do. To delay the inevitable, Naruto remained silent, at least until Lee returned the victor.

"So what do I do until that happens?" Suigetsu asked.

"You're going to take Karin for a walk on the shore." Sasuke answered, serious. "Go on a date; that's an order!"

"You heard the boss!" Karin caressed Suigetsu, resting her head on his chest, and turned her feet in the direction of the water.

"Good! I was thinking of doing that anyway!" Suigetsu put one arm around Karin's waist and they walked to the shore together.

"As for you, Naruto…" Sasuke shifted his attention to the blond Uzumaki, whom Hinata released from her hug to hold her injured shoulder, "I have no authority over you, but I suggest you help Hinata treat her injury; you can talk things over while you're doing it."

"I have some ointment that I left in the changing room…" Hinata said. "Maybe you can put some on me, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto turned around and gave Hinata a big grin. "That's a great idea, Hinata! I'll even walk to the changing room with you and we can put the ointment on right outside!"

Hinata nodded at the suggestion and they both walked toward the changing rooms together.

"What about us single people?!" Kurotsuchi protested, trying to put the focus back on her where it rightfully belonged.

"Temari and I aren't single." Sasuke refuted. Kurotsuchi's eyes widened at the implication.

"Our partners aren't here!" Temari quickly added, dismantling Kurotsuchi's imagination.

"How about we build a sand castle?" Kankuro suggested. "It'd be interesting to see what _we_ can create with sand, right, Temari?"

"It _could_ be… You three have any objections?"

Kurotsuchi and Tenten shook their heads, but Sasuke spoke up with an objection of his own:

"Someone needs to guard Lee's weights." Sasuke walked back to his towel. "I'll stay put."

"No you won't!" Tenten objected. "You've been on guard duty the whole time! Share the shift and have fun, already! I'll take Lee's weights off your hands!"

Tenten proceeded to shove Sasuke off his towel and into the sand.

"Have it your way then…" Sasuke sighed, got up, and approached Kurotsuchi, Kankuro, and Temari. "I don't know how much help I'll be with only one arm, but I'll assist in the sand castle's construction."

The four of them promptly sat down and started their sand castle.

[X-X-X]

Naruto and Hinata had walked up several stairs to the resort complex of Shimeri Suna Estate. Naruto didn't want to part ways with Hinata so soon after meeting her again, but he stopped at the last step, sat down, and let Hinata make her way to the ladies' changing room on her own. When Hinata came back out, she was holding her carton of ointment, but Naruto also noticed that Hinata undid her ponytail, letting her hair fall to her waist like it usually did. She sat down next to Naruto and handed him the ointment.

"Here you are, Naruto-kun." Hinata happily greeted him. Naruto shook off his confusion regarding Hinata's hair and opened the ointment container immediately, scooped some ointment up with his left index and middle fingers, and rubbed the ointment all over the bruise on Hinata's right shoulder. After a few seconds of the ointment sinking in, Naruto could still see the injury:

"Did the ointment not work?! The bruise is still there! When I used this ointment after fighting Kiba, my wounds disappeared!"

Hinata turned her head in Naruto's direction and smiled. "It _is_ working. I feel a lot better now. I think the only reason it worked like that for you is because you heal fast to begin with… because of the Nine-Tai-"

Suddenly, Naruto grabbed Hinata's right hand with his own right hand and looked her in the eyes. "He has a name. The Nine-Tails… His name is Kurama! And you should call him that! You're close enough to the both of us that you should use it."

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Hinata frowned, still looking into Naruto's eyes, but intent on seeing someone else. "If you can hear me Mr. Kurama, I'm sorry I didn't know your name until now…"

"Hinata…" Naruto focused on Hinata's hair. "Why'd you change your hair?"

"It seemed like you were having trouble expressing yourself around me, so I changed my look to something you would be more comfortable with…"

"Huh… You're very thoughtful, Hinata!"

Naruto smiled at her and Hinata blushed. However, Naruto's demeanour became serious the next moment:

"… but I don't think it was necessary; I'd have gotten used to your appearance anyway."

Hinata broke eye-contact and looked down, putting her hands on her lap. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, her tone slightly darkening as well.

"When I first saw you in a swimsuit today… I had this feeling in my heart… I thought that it was just my hormones acting up, because you had this _smoking hot body_ that I never saw before…"

Hinata's arms twitched. "But that's not what you felt, is it? …"

"No. Not on its own…"

At that moment, Naruto swiftly grabbed both of Hinata's hands with both of his and raised them up to his heart, looking into Hinata's eyes again.

"What I felt was something _deeper_ than that. Actually, looking back, I had this same feeling about you three times before…"

" _Three times?_ " Hinata gasped. "You don't mean…"

"I do." Naruto nodded. "The three times you saved me; before the Chunin Exam finals, when Nagato had me defeated, and… after Neji died. Every single time, for a few seconds I couldn't do anything but stare helplessly at you… It's as if, for those few seconds, you became the centre of the whole universe…"

"I'm not _that_ important…"

"But you _**are**_ that important, to _**me**_ anyway!"

Hinata was stunned silent.

"Just look at how I _**reacted**_ those times! When you helped me get my confidence back before my match with Neji, I invited you to watch me beat him. I wanted you to see for yourself how awesome your words made me feel!"

Hinata looked away, contemplating Naruto's words.

"And next, when I saw Nagato stab you," Naruto continued, "Kurama went berserk and almost took me over completely! The thought of losing you… it made me the angriest I ever felt in my whole life! And finally… when you helped me deal with Neji's death, I decided to thank you by holding your hand in front of Obito, Madara, and the Shinobi Alliance… I wanted to show the _whole world_ that you and I were connected, that no despair could ever tear us apart! When you put all that together, it paints a pretty strong picture, doesn't it?"

Naruto's voice softened as he moved his and Hinata's joined hands down to finish.

"I suppose it does…" Hinata spoke up and met Naruto's eyes once more. "But how does all that relate… to today?"

"It relates because all four times I was paralysed by you… they all came down to one thing… you showed me a feeling that I didn't understand, and my mind was having difficulty comprehending it… That feeling of wanting to be at someone's side, believing in and watching and protecting someone all at once, as Sasuke put it... And how I reacted… I think it's because without knowing it, I felt the same way you did…"

Hinata's face turned red. "You felt… the same way I did?"

Naruto moved his face just a little closer to Hinata's. "Yes… You wanted to be with me in the past, when I thought I was all alone… I can't go back in time, so at least let me make up for it by being with you in the future… I want to protect you, and be protected _by_ you, for the rest of our lives… _I love you, Hinata!_ "

The moment Naruto finished, Hinata started smiling and crying at the same time:

"I wasn't sure… you'd ever say that to me…"

Naruto then removed his grip on Hinata's hands to hold her face, wiping away her tears:

"There's something else I need to atone for, Hinata… I never gave you a birthday present…"

"I think you've already made up for it…"

"No. Not yet… There's still something I need to give you. Close your eyes."

"Okay…" Hinata nodded and closed her eyes, awaiting Naruto's gift. She assumed Naruto would let go of her and walk up to the men's changing room, but Naruto's hands did not leave Hinata's cheeks. Instead, Hinata felt Naruto's lips touching her own. It was then that Hinata understood Naruto's gift; he just gave her the first kiss he ever intended to have. She remembered seeing Naruto kiss Sasuke on graduation day at the Academy, but that one was clearly an accident on both sides. This kiss was definitely different; Hinata could feel Naruto's lips were filled with purpose and love, showing his dedication to and desire to be with her through his actions. His lips remained connected to hers for a few seconds, and during that time Hinata relaxed every muscle in her body in response to the contact. When Naruto finally stopped kissing her and let go of her head, Hinata slowly opened her eyes on instinct.

"Happy belated birthday, Hinata," Naruto smiled at her. "What did you think of my present?"

Hinata hugged Naruto, overflowing with happiness. "I think it's the best birthday present I've ever received." She then stood up to face the beach, letting Naruto go on her way up. "Let's head back to the party… Naruto."

" _Naruto?_ Not Naruto _-kun_?"

Hinata leaned her head on Naruto's shoulder as they walked down the stairs. "You told me yourself that I'm close enough to call Mr. Kurama by his real name… I should be also close enough to call you by your name without any formalities…"

Naruto put his left arm around Hinata's waist, pulling her in closer as they walked. "It'll take some time to get used to it _…_ "

"We have all the time in the world though… Don't we, Naruto?" Hinata rebutted with the utmost confidence. "I believe the wording you used was… _the rest of our lives_."

"When you put it _that_ way, Hinata… then there's no arguing with you!"

After a second or so, Naruto started giggling.

"What's so funny, Naruto?" Hinata asked.

"It's something Mom said. The day I was born, she told me to avoid the weird girls… and yet my _ideal woman_ is someone I once _thought_ was a weird girl!"

Hinata couldn't help but start laughing along with Naruto.

[X-X-X]

At the shoreline, Karin and Suigetsu were walking together like Sasuke ordered them to. They enjoyed it for the most part, but were annoyed by the odd looks some civilians gave them. They started out blaming each other for who was the cause of the unwanted attention, but that eventually stopped since their quarrelling only made things worse. But this lasted for only a few minutes, to be halted when Karin sensed a terribly intense chakra and she looked outward:

"This chakra… it's coming from the sea!"

The next moment, Karin and Suigetsu saw a man wearing green with burnt red skin running in midair straight for Tenten and the weights, going so fast they left a trail of fire in the sky behind them. But what looked like a flying man to Karin and Suigetsu looked like a _small meteor_ to the civilians, between the fire and the source of it forming a crater in the sand upon impact, its force great enough to topple over the sand castle Sasuke, Kurotsuchi, Kankuro and Temari were making, along with the towels that composed the meeting spot, burying Tenten in sand and towels. The only things that did not budge were Lee's weights and Lee's towel underneath them. It was enough to issue an evacuation order on the populace, but Karin and Suigetsu rushed to the centre of the crater to check on it and its surroundings instead.

"Isn't that… Lee?!" Karin screamed, seeing a bushy-brows young man wearing the Might Suit reeling in pain with steam coming off him. She ran up to him and pulled up her right sleeve.

When Lee didn't respond to Karin's calls to wake up and bite her, Suigetsu rushed to their aid and grabbed Lee's head, enduring the heat emanating from his body. "Come on, Lee! A former Green Beast defeated all _Seven Swordsmen of the Mist!_ You're stronger than this!" he shouted as he opened Lee's mouth and closed it on Karin's arm.

" _ **OWW! IT'S SO HOOOTT!**_ " Karin writhed in agony, her skin burning with a fever matching Lee's temperature. It only lasted for a few seconds however, for soon Lee's body heat returned to normal levels, and he regained consciousness only another second later.

"Umm… Thank you for saving me!" Lee said while he sat up.

"It's not over yet!" Karin warned. "Suigetsu, wash away the sand covering everyone!"

"I don't take orders from you!" Suigetsu bickered as he nonetheless did as he was told and turned himself into a wave of water and soaked everyone else, starting with Tenten and continuing with the other four, saving them all from premature burials. Sasuke was forced to remove his sunglasses as he recovered first and headed over to Lee now that the shades were drenched.

"So what brings you back in such a… _dramatic_ fashion, Lee?" Sasuke asked.

"It was very strange, Sasuke-kun! After Naruto-kun forfeited the contest, I kept going as far as I could! I noticed a small island in the distance and told myself, 'if I cannot reach that island, then I must swim back to shore rather than walk using chakra'. I managed to reach that island, but when I did I saw a man on it… a very strange man!"

"What was so strange about this man?"

"The man… he had _**cracks on his face!**_ "

Lee's revelation shocked all the members of Taka.

"Just like the ones revived with the _Impure World Resurrection_ technique!" Lee continued. "I was so shocked and scared that I opened all six gates that I could, smashed him with a _Mad Dance of Infinity_ , and air-jumped my way back here!"

" _Impure World Resurrection_ technique?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Karin and Suigetsu looked at him, eyes wide. "Taka, group huddle!"

Karin and Suigetsu got into a close hug with Sasuke, their heads lowered to prevent anyone else from overhearing.

"So do both of you think Lee happened to encounter _Father of the Impure World?_ " Sasuke whispered to his teammates. They nodded in unison.

"What do we do?" Karin asked quietly.

"We meet him as soon as possible, of course." Suigetsu suggested.

"I concur." Sasuke said. "When they regenerate from Lee's attack, we'll ask him about Orochimaru to confirm if they're our target or not."

Sasuke suddenly raised his voice:

"Huddle over!"

Karin and Suigetsu broke away from their commander just in time for the others to recover, standing up along with them. Sasuke turned his head in Kurotsuchi's direction:

"We are very sorry, Kurotsuchi, but we caught a break in our mission and we must leave the party early."

" _ **WHAT?!**_ " Kurotsuchi screeched in bewilderment as Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu picked up their towels. Before they could walk to the changing rooms, however…

"Hold on!" Lee protested. "If you leave now, then Naruto-kun cannot be punished for losing our challenge!"

Everyone present was flabbergasted.

"What did… you two agree on?" Tenten voiced everyone's curiosity.

"Why, the loser must do 100 push-ups with Sasuke-kun on top of him while in the presence of all the ladies! Has Naruto-kun not done it yet?"

The beach went dead silent for a few seconds, the silence only being broken by a newly-committed couple walking down to them from the changing rooms.

"Hey, everybody! Hinata and I are soul mates! She's even dropped using honorifics with me! Isn't that incredible?!" Naruto excitedly declared.

All the eyes in the area shifted slowly on to him.

"What's with all the staring? I know Hinata's so pretty she's bound to succeed Granny Tsunade as the _World's Most Beautiful Kunoichi_ some day, but this is getting ridiculous…"

"I appreciate the compliment, Naruto, but I'm fairly certain they're looking at _you_ , not me…" Hinata said.

While Naruto remained confused, Sasuke blinked once with his Rinnegan, and in the next instant Hinata was next to Karin and Suigetsu, while Sasuke was being held in Naruto's arms.

"Uhh… Why did you just swap places with Hinata like that, Sasuke? …" Naruto's voice grew quiet with the atmosphere.

Without a word Sasuke swiftly and viciously raised his right knee into Naruto's groin. Naruto dropped face-first into the sand beneath him, and when he was lying completely on it Sasuke jumped into the air as high as he could, crossed his legs in mid-air, and landed butt-first squarely on Naruto's back.

Naruto could barely find the strength to utter words. "What's the… meaning of this? … Sasuke…"

"It's _punishment_ time, loser." Sasuke said as he shoved Naruto's head into the sand with his only hand.

With no options for escape available, Naruto submitted to his loss and started doing push-ups. As Naruto proceeded, one single thought kept rising to the surface:

 _This is the most embarrassing moment of my life!_

The only solace Naruto had was that he could hear a single dissident voice drowning out the laughter and scorn of the crowd, cheering him on… a voice he was longing to hear his whole life up to this point, and one he'll hear for many days to come. A voice full of love that ignited his soul with hope just hearing it… the voice of Hinata.


	30. Chapter 29: Impure World Resurrection

After Naruto completed his punishment for losing to Lee in their swimming contest, Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu went back to the changing rooms and got in their usual attire. Thanks to the evacuation notice, the only people still present on the beach were those attending Kurotsuchi's party. When Taka returned to the shore, Sasuke summoned Odaka and all three boarded her at their usual seats, Suigetsu and Karin impatient to be sitting together once more. They gave their farewells to Kurotsuchi, Naruto, and the others and flew south to the small island Rock Lee discovered. It took Lee almost an hour and thirty minutes to swim there, so it came to no surprise that Odaka managed to fly there in under a third of that time.

When Taka reached the island, it was even smaller than what they anticipated; the island was but a circular bed of sand no more than five metres in diameter, and the only vegetation was a single palm tree with a distinct lack of coconuts. It was clear to Taka that any ordinary human being stranded on this island, without the physical dexterity to swim to Shimeri Suna Estate like Rock Lee, or the chakra reserves and control to walk on the water between like Naruto, or without some means of flying, would be sure to starve to death or drown trying to escape. Of course, a man summoned by the _Impure World Resurrection_ technique could hardly be considered ' _ordinary_ '.

Furthermore, while it was clear to Taka that Shimeri Suna Estate could still be seen from where they were, the same could probably _not_ be said the other way around; the island, and anyone on it, would be too small for people at Shimeri Suna Estate to see from this distance, at least without a Byakugan. It then occurred to Sasuke that Hinata might have possibly still been watching them to make sure they were safe. In any other situation however, Taka couldn't expect any kind of assistance to arrive. Because of all this, Sasuke figured that perhaps whoever was here might have been forced there by their summoner to be trapped forever, unable to escape the island, alive _or_ dead.

When Taka landed on the remote island, they found that the mystery zombie had regenerated. To Sasuke's confusion, the man was wearing armour those from the Warring Clans Era wore; similar to the kind he'd seen Hashirama and Madara wear, but not quite as polished. He also looked like Hashirama to some degree, but his hair was shorter and he had light wrinkles on his face along with the cracks. Sasuke couldn't believe his thoughts, but there was only one person this man could be. Before he could address him, however, the man called out to them first.

"Are you here to rescue me, unlike that _other_ upstart?" the man asked Taka while he was slumped on the palm tree. Sasuke could tell from the tone of the man's voice and the colour of his eyes that he was filled with despair, clinging pathetically to the only speck of hope he had left.

"Depends on what you're here for, _zombie!_ " Suigetsu blurted out, looking down on the man.

Sasuke got in between the man and Suigetsu, keeping him from throwing any more insults around. Then Sasuke knelt down and leveled his eyes with the man's:

"Please forgive my companion's rudeness, sir. We'd just like to ask a few questions, if that's alright with you."

"Why's he acting so polite all of a sudden?" Karin whispered into Suigetsu's ear.

"Beats me," Suigetsu whispered back, shrugging.

Meanwhile, the man looked up to meet Sasuke's eyes, and on instinct threw a punch at the young Uchiha's face. Seeing the attack coming, Sasuke caught the man's attack with his own hand.

"I know my ancestors must have caused you a lot of grief, but you can trust that I'm not here to settle any grudges between out clans." Sasuke pleaded.

"Prove it, then." The man threw a second punch with his free hand.

Sasuke did not move and let the attack connect with his face, bruising his right cheek a little.

"You could have dodged that attack with your Sharingan, but you chose not to…" Satisfied, the man sighed with relief and increased his slump. "Then it's clear my hostilities were misplaced. Forget I attacked you, Uchiha."

Sasuke changed his posture from kneeling down to sitting and let go of the man's hand, making himself more comfortable.

"What's going on, Boss?!" Suigetsu complained. "It's like you already know who this man is or something!"

"I think that's the point, Suigetsu!" Karin replied.

"You're the First Hokage's father, I presume?" Sasuke said, stunning Karin and Suigetsu speechless.

The man closed his eyes. "First Hokage… That is what the people call him now, don't they? … My eldest son, Hashirama."

"So my assumption was correct…"

The man nodded. "Yes… I am the father of the first two Hokage, Hashirama and Tobirama Senju… My name is Butsuma Senju…"

"And the Second Hokage invented the _Impure World Resurrection_ technique…" Suigetsu added.

"Hence _Father of the Impure World…_ " Karin inferred.

"You know who I am… now tell me who you are." Butsuma muttered, pointing at Sasuke. "You look like Izuna, but your chakra feels like Madara, and you act like _neither…_ your identity is quite puzzling…"

"My name… is Sasuke Uchiha."

Butsuma's eyes widened at the name.

"And yes, I'm named after Sasuke Sarutobi, which your reaction leads me to believe you've met."

"He was only a child, but I did meet him, yes."

"As for the names you mentioned… My similarity to Izuna is only a coincidence. As for Madara… our relation is more complicated than a simple blood connection. It'd be more accurate to say I'm Madara's _reincarnation_ , but even that's not _entirely_ correct."

"You never told us you were Madara's _reincarnation_ , Sasuke!" Suigetsu objected.

"I did allude to it though, once, at the Hidden Rain Village." Sasuke explained, looking back to his teammates. "When I said I had the Rinnegan because of my relation to Madara, _reincarnation_ is what I meant."

Karin tilted her head in confusion. "I figured you just meant it was because you were both Uchiha…"

"No. Everyone, even Madara, thought that obtaining the Rinnegan simply required the union of Uchiha and Senju DNA, but in fact, the requirements are something else entirely. In order to acquire a Rinnegan, a reincarnation of Indra needs to take in the chakra of their corresponding Asura reincarnation."

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow. "Indra… and Asura? …"

"You probably know them better as the Sage of the Six Paths' children." Sasuke said.

"The _Sage of the Six Paths?_ " Butsuma was incredulous, as were Suigetsu and Karin.

Sasuke nodded. "Yes. The Sage had two sons - Indra, then Asura - and spent his later days trying to figure out which son should lead the world to peace after his death. Eventually he settled on Asura, but he still wished for Indra to assist his younger brother and left him instructions to do so. Unfortunately, between Indra's own envy for Asura being the sage's 'favourite', and an evil outside influence altering said instructions to _steal_ Asura's power as opposed to _co-operate_ with him, rather than become pioneers of peace like the Sage hoped… they kick-started an endless era of _**war**_ **.** Even after their deaths, Indra and Asura's conflict remained unresolved, and so they reincarnated countless times, until one pair of reincarnations could set right what Indra and Asura did wrong, and allow their souls to rest in peace. I'm Indra's current incarnation, and Madara was the previous one."

"You say they reincarnated in pairs…" Butsuma said. "So who was Madara's… 'brother'?"

"Your eldest son _Hashirama Senju_ of course," Sasuke answered. Butsuma was in shock, and began to think to himself.

After a second or so, Butsuma stood up and punched the tree behind him:

"That… isn't possible!"

Sasuke could hear the certainty in Butsuma's voice, but Sasuke knew without a doubt he was correct. It led him to think that something must have happened in Butsuma's time to make him think Hashirama could not possibly be Asura's reincarnation… and it might have been related to why he was summoned in the first place.

"Could you please calm down and answer our questions?" Sasuke asked as he got up to meet Butsuma's eyes.

"What do you want to know? I'll tell you anything; just conversing with people is a luxury I rarely experience anymore…" Butsuma relented, sorrow again dominating his voice.

"First of all… who summoned you?" Sasuke asked.

"Isn't that _obviously_ Orochimaru, Sasuke?" Karin objected.

"No. Butsuma died before the Hidden Leaf Village was even created. By the time Orochimaru learned the _Impure World Resurrection_ technique, Butsuma's corpse would have decomposed, and all other traces of his DNA would have vanished. No, Orochimaru couldn't be the one who summoned him… it has to be someone from _earlier_ in history."

"But the only one from earlier is the Second Hokage, right?" Suigetsu said. "And I can't imagine anyone making _their_ _own_ _father_ suffer eternal un-death!"

"So it's not him, either." Sasuke deduced. "Someone had to have learned _Impure World Resurrection_ _after_ the Second Hokage, and _before_ Orochimaru."

Karin and Suigetsu's jaws dropped.

"You're right." Butsuma took a deep breath. "The one who summoned me was not Tobirama, and it was not Orochimaru… The one who summoned me was your predecessor… _Madara Uchiha._ "

Karin and Suigetsu were bewildered into silence. Sasuke, however, was able to respond:

"… Just as I thought…"

 _Itachi and I made Kabuto release everyone summoned by him with Impure World Resurrection, which should have included Madara, but he was somehow able to annul his contract with Kabuto and remain tethered to the living world… If he knew how to free himself from Impure World Resurrection, then it only makes sense that he knew the technique itself. What doesn't make sense is how he learned the technique and what he summoned Butsuma for…_

"Here's our next question: how did Madara learn _Impure World Resurrection?_ " the Uchiha asked.

"I only know what Madara told me…" Butsuma began with melancholy, "… but he said that after his battle with Hashirama at the Valley of the End, the whole world thought he was dead, and because of that, no one suspected him when a certain scroll went missing for a day…"

"What kind of scroll?"

"I don't know for sure, but if I had to make a guess…" Butsuma looked up in nostalgia, "… it would have been the scroll Tobirama kept all his techniques written in. Tobirama prided himself on being the inventor of many techniques, and in the hopes of strengthening his clan, he would write down all his inventions on one scroll. He wanted to make its contents public to bolster our power, but knowing the danger of the Uchiha clan witnessing these techniques and copying them, I forbade Tobirama from sharing his knowledge, and I instructed Hashirama to do the same after my death."

"Just out of curiosity, what was the first jutsu Tobirama invented?"

"That would be… the Shadow Clone jutsu. Tobirama saw Hashirama's Wood Clones and wanted to develop a way for _anyone_ to create clones that were solid duplicates rather than illusions, and the Shadow Clone jutsu is what he came up with."

"Oh god…" Sasuke mumbled to himself. _Naruto learned the Shadow Clone jutsu by reading the first entry on a scroll… To think the_ _ **Impure World Resurrection**_ _technique could also be written on that thing… If Iruka never found him that night … Oh god…_ his face went pale as his thoughts finished.

"What's the matter, Sasuke?" Karin interjected.

"Oh! … Nothing relevant… Just some meaningless speculation…" Sasuke replied, looking back at Karin then focusing himself on Butsuma once more. "Back on topic. Why did Madara summon you?"

"That was… The answer to that question is also the reason why I thought Hashirama cannot have been Asura's reincarnation: Madara tried to transplant Hashirama's DNA into himself, but it had _no effect_. Madara's first thought was that he might not have acquired enough for what he intended, but he couldn't risk blowing the cover of being a 'ghost' by going after Hashirama or any of his living relatives… so he went after a _dead_ one instead."

"That would be _you…_ " Karin deduced.

"Yes. Madara went to the location of my death, looted some of my DNA, and used it to summon me with _Impure World Resurrection_. He tried to incorporate a larger portion of my flesh into his body, but the jutsu did not work the way Madara had expected it to; he could not transplant anything from my _reanimated_ body to his _still-living_ one."

 _If that did happen, then why was Madara_ _surprised_ _that he lost his Rinnegan when he was truly revived with Samsara of Heavenly Life? … Maybe Kabuto's modifications to restore Madara to his prime rather than old age made him think he_ _also_ _got rid of that weakness…_ Sasuke thought.

"What happened after that?" Suigetsu asked. "Madara clearly didn't cancel the summon!"

Butsuma started to cry. "That would have been _**far**_ too kind of him! Instead of letting my soul pass on, Madara decided he had to _punish_ me for keeping him and Hashirama apart when they were children. And for killing his father Tajima, somehow forgetting that Tajima killed _me_ too! At any rate, Madara forced me to… an _eternal exile._ He commanded me to leave the continent and never return. This island is _just south_ of the Ninja World map… so I was far enough the moment I set foot here. Then to prevent myself from returning, I destroyed my boat and threw the pieces into the sea in every which way. I've been stranded here ever since… No food, no drinkable water, no one to converse with, no means of escape, and no way to die! I've been in _**complete isolation**_ since the _**First Ninja World War!**_ "

Taka was rendered quiet for a few minutes at the description of Butsuma's plight. But the silence was broken in due time:

"That can't be everything, old man!" Suigetsu shouted as he walked up to Butsuma, pointing. "You still haven't told us how you know Orochimaru! He might not have _summoned_ you, but we know that he must have _**met**_ you! So spill the beans, dammit, or I'll blast you full of holes!"

"Your threats mean nothing to me. I'll just recover from any wound you may land upon me… Such is my curse…"

The elderly zombie slumped back on to the tree in desolation. In response to this, Sasuke grabbed Suigetsu's arm, catching him off guard:

"Go easy on the man, Suigetsu… he's been suffering alone for over fifty years. He needs our _support_ more than anything right now. Violence won't help anyone here."

Suigetsu relaxed his arm and put it down, understanding his boss's motive.

"You're very compassionate… for an Uchiha." Butsuma remarked, straightening his posture.

"We're _all_ compassionate. Some of us just express it the wrong way."

Butsuma stroked his chin, contemplating Sasuke's words. Then he stood up once more and met Sasuke eye-to-eye. "There is some fruit to seeing it that way, yes… Very well, I shall tell you how I met Orochimaru."

The Senju took a deep breath before continuing. "Sometime around the start of what you would call the _Third Ninja World War_ , a boat coming from even further south reached this island. The boat's pilot was a man with chalk white skin and long, pitch black hair; that was Orochimaru. He said he had finished a training pilgrimage and was on his way back home to the Hidden Leaf, but saw me on the horizon and changed course, intrigued by my appearance. He peppered me with tons of questions, wanting to know exactly who I was and how I came to be revived. I could not, however, give him any information pertaining to my work for Madara due to my contract… I never ended up telling Orochimaru who summoned me."

"Then how are you answering our questions _now?_ " Karin asked.

"I think that's because Madara's dead." Sasuke answered. "When Orochimaru met Butsuma, Madara was _still alive_ ; he wouldn't die until _late_ in the Third Ninja World War. After that, whatever binds Madara put on him would be gone, giving him total control over himself… but the technique still wasn't dispelled."

Butsuma nodded. "You are correct. All I managed to reveal is where someone could possibly learn the _Impure World Resurrection_ technique, because nothing I said about it led back to Madara. I just said that Tobirama wrote all his inventions in one scroll, decreed by myself and later Hashirama to be forbidden knowledge, along with Tobirama being the one to invent the technique that revived me. Orochimaru made the deduction himself and thanked me for such _wonderful_ discussion, though I assume he was at least partly sarcastic. He also promised that, if he learned the technique himself, that he would use it to revive my children. At the time, I believed that meant he would return here and let me see them again… but he never came back…"

"Aha!" Karin's eyes lit up. "After training with Warushizen, but before making the first Curse Marks, Orochimaru found this island and discovered where to learn the _Impure World Resurrection_ technique!"

"Orochimaru _did_ end up reviving Hashirama and Tobirama with that technique." Sasuke clarified to Butsuma, solemn. "He just revived them for a different reason…"

"Is that so?" Butsuma started crying again. "Then Orochimaru betrayed my trust without telling a lie…"

"That's just how he operates." Sasuke said. "He never outright lies… He merely spins the truth in a way you want to hear it, and in doing so tricks you into doing everything he wants. Most people lie to manipulate others, but Orochimaru isn't like most people. He knows that _the truth_ can be a more effective weapon than any lie, and takes advantage of it whenever he can."

Karin and Suigetsu both reflected on Sasuke's statement, being reminded of their own ordeals with Orochmaru:

 _Orochimaru convinced me that collecting all the Swords was the best way to honour Big Bro… and despite being guilty of my brother's murder in the first place, he was right…_ Suigetsu recalled.

 _Orochimaru first met me right after time was up in the Forest of Death… He asked me to join him, and I accepted… partly because he promised me I would be reunited with my hero, Sasuke… And look at us now. It's not the relationship I hoped for, but we're together one way or another…_ Karin thought.

"It's been interesting conversing with you…" Butsuma turned his back on the group, so dejected that tears could not form in his eyes anymore, "… but I've impeded your progress long enough. You can continue on whatever course I diverted you from… There's nothing here but an artifact of a forgotten era… destined to an eternal, miserable existence… All I want is to finally die and reunite with my children, and there's no way that could possibly happen now…"

At the end of Butsuma's speech, something clicked in Sasuke's head, and consequently he pat Butsuma on his right shoulder from behind.

"That's not true, Butsuma." Sasuke objected, the undead Senju stumbling in shock. "There _is_ a way to save you, and ironically enough, you have Madara to thank for it."

Karin and Suigetsu gasped in horror. "You don't mean…" they said in unison.

"I do."

Sasuke breathed deeply, closed his right eye, and left his Rinnegan open:

"The Rinnegan's ability to overturn death… _Samsara of Heavenly Life._ "


	31. Chapter 30: Samsara of Heavenly Life

"You can't be serious!" Suigetsu shouted, shivering in terror, bewildered that Sasuke even entertained the notion of using _Samsara of Heavenly Life._

"It's the only way to relieve Butsuma of his suffering." Sasuke pointed out, calm. "The technique will end Butsuma's un-death by restoring him to true life. Then he'll become mortal and be free to end his life any time he wants."

"But what about _**your**_ life?! If you use _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ , then you'll be trading your own life away for Butsuma's! At the Hidden Rain, you even said yourself that Nagato aged himself to death using it! And what's worse, you're the last Uchiha alive! If you die now, it will be the end of your entire clan!"

"If that's what needs to happen, then so be it." Sasuke closed his eyes. "I managed to mend my ties with Naruto… he's Asura's current incarnation… so we resolved the conflict plaguing the world with war to begin with. We even ended Infinite Tsukiyomi together and saved the world. After I die, Indra's soul can rest in peace, and the world can heal from the damage Indra caused it so long ago. It's started to already… You know, Indra was the first user of the Sharingan in its present form, and only his direct descendants can unlock its power… Those descendants became known over time as the Uchiha clan… So if my clan's history ends with me, the one who lifted the Curse of Hatred my clan was born from, it would be _fitting_ , wouldn't it?"

Sasuke opened his eyes and a few tears rolled down his cheeks.

This marked the second time Sasuke cried since his clan was destroyed. The first time was when he learned the truth behind Itachi's actions right after his death, realizing Itachi loved him all along, and despite dedicating his whole life to killing him up to that point, realizing that part of himself loved Itachi all along as well. This time, these weren't tears of sorrow or regret, however… they were tears of _relief_ , an expression of all the burdens placed on his clan finally being let go, having been completed. In this moment, part of Sasuke was convinced his life had no further purpose, his clan free from all its suffering, and if he were to die restoring one of Asura's descendants to life, then he would be able to accept it.

"Your friend is right, Uchiha." Butsuma said, diverting Sasuke's attention. "Regardless of your place in your clan's history, you are still just a young man with their whole life ahead of them. The one thing Hashirama despised more than anything else about my era was children constantly throwing their lives away in battle, dying far too young. I believe he created the Hidden Leaf Village and ended the Warring Clans Era precisely to combat that injustice. To give up your life for an old man like me… It would prove that Hashirama _failed_ , would it not?"

"You have a point…" Sasuke reluctantly admitted, "… but I still can't ignore your situation. To live endlessly all on your own, with no opportunity to create bonds… that would be even _worse_ than death. Madara certainly thought so when he punished you, and over time you've even come to agree with him. If only there was a way to bring you back to life without dying in the process…"

Everyone on the island was quiet for a few seconds, but eventually someone spoke up:

"There could be a way to do just that."

The voice belonged to Karin. Sasuke turned his head to look at her, and the only emotion he could read from her face was a calm determination, nothing extreme like usual. Sasuke could tell that whatever Karin had in mind, she was _dead serious_ about it.

"What do you have in mind?" Sasuke asked.

Upon the question, Karin walked in between Sasuke and Butsuma so that Sasuke could face her completely. "We use _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ _ **together.**_ Let me help you pay the cost."

"Now _you_ 've lost your mind too, Karin?!" Suigetsu protested. "If you do that, then you could die along with Sasuke! Remember what happened to Nagato?!"

"That's exactly my point." Karin rebutted, not bothering with her typical sass. "Nagato may have died using _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ , but he revived _an entire village_ in the process. Butsuma is just _one man;_ Nagato might have been able to bring Butsuma back without killing himself."

"But we have no way of knowing that!"

Karin nodded. "I agree. There's no way to know for sure."

"Then why are you even considering it?!"

"Because my chances of living through the technique are _even better than Nagato's_."

Karin's response stunned Sasuke and Suigetsu speechless.

"Just think about it for a minute." Karin continued. "Both Nagato and I are pure-blooded Uzumaki, so we have some of the longest lifespans around. But Nagato stopped using his body for fighting after Yahiko's death, which made him frail and probably reduced his lifespan a great deal. On top of that, when he used _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ , he was old enough to be _my father_ according to Ameko, and he could still revive a village despite those handicaps. By contrast, I'm younger _and_ healthier than Nagato was, so I've got even more life to give than him. And if I'm paying along with Sasuke, then neither of us will be paying the full cost of the technique. When you put all that together, the odds of Sasuke and me surviving _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ are _**not zero.**_ "

Karin took a deep breath before finishing:

"And as long as it's not zero… it's worth a shot."

"That's not even the only problem!" Suigetsu desperately objected. " _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ needs two hands for its hand seal! Sasuke only has one arm! He can't even use the technique!"

"You underestimate me, Suigetsu." Sasuke turned to face him. "I wouldn't have brought up _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ in the first place if I didn't have a way to make hand seals. Watch."

Sasuke put all his focus on the space underneath his left shoulder as he manifested the first variant of Susano'o he ever used: a ribcage made of the same deep purple chakra as its final form, the colossal tengu, just big enough to surround Sasuke. It was this form of Susano'o that he used to block the Fourth Raikage's attacks during the Five Kage Summit. But it wouldn't last, for Sasuke moved all the Susano'o chakra from the ribcage to the area under his shoulder, the energy separating and reforming into a skeletal purple arm. Sasuke slowly curled the fingers into a fist, then flexed the arm at the elbow, and then straightened the arm in front of him, finally pointing at Suigetsu with it.

"Since when did you… come up with that?" Suigetsu wondered, half amazed and half afraid.

"I've thought about a method for performing hand seals without a left arm since I lost it at the end of the war." Sasuke explained. "It's still pretty impractical though. It takes about a minute to form this arm assuming I'm stationary, and it disappears after using only one jutsu with it or five minutes pass, whichever comes first. In battle, it's not worth the effort making it since I leave myself too open. But in this context… one jutsu is all I need, and no one attacked me during its formation, so it can get its use."

Sasuke turned back around to face Karin. "Since it only lasts for five minutes, if you're going to help me with the jutsu, Karin, then hurry up and lend me your chakra and life force."

"Dammit! … I get Sasuke, but why are _you_ so okay with dying, Karin?! We just started dating! Don't you care about that at all?!"

At the end of Suigetsu's rant, Karin ran up to and hugged him, still looking him in the eye.

"It's okay." Karin consoled with as sweet a voice as she could muster, smiling gently. "I believe we _won't_ die, but even if we do… you'll mourn our loss. You'll always remember Sasuke, and you'll always remember me… and that's enough."

"No it isn't!" Suigetsu held on to Karin as tight as he could as he objected. "You're the only woman I ever loved! No one… absolutely _**NO ONE**_ can measure up to you! You can never be replaced… I'll never be able to fall in love again… Someone as _**amazing and beautiful**_ as you just doesn't exist in my eyes, Karin!"

Karin remained calm and content. "That might be true _now,_ but who knowswhat the future has in store? Butsuma's right; you have your _whole life_ ahead of you. As you grow older, the world will change, and the people in it will change too. It may take years, and there's no guarantee it will happen, but you _just might_ find someone as amazing and as beautiful as me… You _**adorable idiot…**_ "

Unable to respond, Suigetsu loosened his grip on Karin and let her go. Karin briskly walked behind Sasuke as to not waste any more time.

"One last thing, Suigetsu," Sasuke said, without changing his gaze's focus on Butsuma.

"What… is it?" Suigetsu managed to ask, getting down on his knees in his despair.

"I have faith in Karin's judgement. If you really love her like you say you do, then you should have faith in her too."

Sasuke left Suigetsu to ponder his words, raising his arms in preparation for _Samsara of Heavenly Life._ Karin hugged Sasuke from behind, intent on combining her chakra with Sasuke's.

"We're ready. Let's do it." Karin said as she sensed the moment her and Sasuke's chakra merged. Sasuke nodded in affirmation, and subsequently clasped his hands together. At the moment Sasuke made the proper hand seal, he and Karin simultaneously shouted the name of what may have been their final jutsu:

" _ **Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life!**_ "

The tremendous outpouring of chakra from Sasuke and Karin's combined effort created massive outgoing waves in every direction from the island, toppled the lone palm tree, and made Suigetsu almost completely melt before the display of such overwhelming power. He hadn't been exposed to chakra of this intensity since the reanimated First Hokage destroyed the Naka Shrine in his presence. But determined to see the results of Sasuke and Karin's technique, Suigetsu steeled himself to watch the centre of the island despite everything but the top half of his head being reduced to a lowly puddle.

What caught Suigetsu's eye first was the green light emanating from Butsuma's body. Engulfed in this light, the cracks in Butsuma's face and armour disappeared one by one, until at last light returned to Butsuma's eyes and the strange aura disappeared. Moments after that, Sasuke's Susano'o arm dissipated, Karin lost her grip on Sasuke, and they both collapsed on the ground in front of them, landing beside each other face-down, Karin at the left. The waves ceased shortly after that, and soon Suigetsu recovered. The first thing Suigetsu did when he could solidify was rush over to his teammates to check their pulse, but to his horror, neither of them had one:

"I knew it… they're both dead… Dammit you guys… For smart people, you can be so _**STUPID**_ when it really counts!"

He could do nothing but punch the ground in between Sasuke and Karin several times, overwhelmed with grief. But he was stopped by another man, whose presence Suigetsu nearly forgot in lieu of his fallen comrades.

"Relax, boy!" Butsuma commanded with a voice livelier than it had been for a long time. Suigetsu looked up at him, his eyes filled with tears of rage.

"Why should I, huh?!"

"Because your friends are _**still alive.**_ "

Butsuma's statement shocked Suigetsu; it was too good to be true.

"How?!"

"It's faint, but I can feel their chakra. I'm no match compared to the Kagura Dynasty in sensing, but I get a feel for someone's chakra if I've met them. And so long as that chakra doesn't disappear, they are _not_ dead, no matter how lifeless their bodies might seem."

 _So somehow … Sasuke and Karin are in a… temporary death state… like the kind Hunter Ninja are trained to invoke… I don't know why, but… they're still alive. Thank god…_

Suigetsu's thoughts were interrupted when he felt blood drop on to his arm being held by Butsuma.

"You're… bleeding?" Suigetsu asked.

Butsuma let Suigetsu go and showed him his left forearm. "To test if the technique worked, I cut myself on the fallen tree. As you can see, I didn't regenerate. Of course, that means that not only are the Uchiha and the girl alive… so am I."

"Then Sasuke and Karin pulled it off!" Suigetsu shouted with glee. "They revived the dead without killing themselves! I'm so sorry, Karin! I shouldn't have doubted you for a second, _**you magnificent bitch!**_ "

"Don't celebrate just yet…" Butsuma made a faint grin as he walked to the right of Sasuke and pulled his sword out of its sheath with his uninjured arm.

"What are you doing with that?!" Suigetsu exclaimed.

"I'm going to fulfill a dream of mine I had during my first life." Butsuma said as he raised Sasuke's sword and pointed the blade down to its owner's back. "Being revived has _**invigorated**_ my spirit, and the boy himself sees it as a fitting end, so… I shall _close the curtain on the Uchiha clan_ _ **with my own hands!**_ "

At that moment, Butsuma thrust downward. As the old Senju attempted to slay the young Uchiha, however, he felt a pulse of water blast his right hand, knocking the sword out of it and flinching Butsuma. During that moment of vulnerability, Suigetsu leaped over Sasuke's body, caught the sword in mid-air, somersaulted when he hit the ground, and swiftly pointed the blade at Butsuma with his left hand and pointed his Finger Gun at him with his right:

"You're not killing Sasuke on my watch, _artifact!_ "


	32. Chapter 31: Start of the Second Life

"You intend to stand in my way, _boy?_ " Butsuma scoffed, staring the blade and pointing finger down without a hint of fear despite the wounds on his left forearm and right hand.

Suigetsu's brow furrowed as he stood up, finger and sword still pointed at Butsuma. "If you plan on killing one of my comrades, then _no shit._ "

"Then I must deal with you first." Butsuma lunged at Suigetsu, fists raised. "If you're left alive, then you will hunt me down in revenge after I kill the Uchiha! And I plan on living a _long_ second life! Feel the adamantine power of a Senju Clan Leader!"

Butsuma's charge ended with his rant, intent on killing Suigetsu. The Hozuki promptly liquefied himself, letting Butsuma pass through him seamlessly and taking no damage. Suigetsu then turned around and held Sasuke's sword to Butsuma's neck and his right index finger to the Senju's mid-back. Then Suigetsu yawned:

" _Senju Clan Leader?_ Is that title supposed to _impress_ me or something? Because you're not living up to it; after meeting your _kids_ face-to-face, you're _really_ underwhelming." _An S-Class for a weakling like this, Orochimaru? Must have been 'cause he was a zombie with immortality and super-fast chakra recovery. Without those he's nothing special, even at full power!_ The Hozuki thought.

Butsuma trembled in place. "You met… my children?!"

"The First and Second Hokages? Yeah. Sasuke has too. And let me tell you, they're some of the strongest guys I've ever seen. Real _monsters_ , those two. I wouldn't stand a chance against either of _them._ You should feel proud!"

"That Uchiha over there couldn't have met Tobirama! He would have killed the boy on sight… He hated the Uchiha clan as much as I do!"

"He was a bigot that was prejudiced against them, I'll give you that. But you seem to have misunderstood why. The Second Hokage didn't _hate_ them. In fact, the one who told Sasuke that all Uchiha are compassionate by nature was the Second himself!"

" _ **Tobirama**_ saw things that way?! He must have changed a lot since my death…"

"Don't take it the wrong way, old man. Your son was still an asshole who let his bias cloud his judgement. The law has a foundation of ' _innocent until proven guilty_ ', but the Uchiha were ' _guilty_ until proven _innocent_ ' with him. Thing is though, at least Tobirama gave the Uchiha that chance to prove themselves. Someone with _**hatred**_ in their heart wouldn't even _give_ _them_ that chance… like _**YOU**_ , for instance!"

"What do you mean?!"

"It's simple, really. The Second Hokage saw the Uchiha clan as dangerous, but those who proved themselves to him became valuable comrades and had his utmost respect. His own _student_ , Kagami Uchiha, was one of them. _Sasuke_ is another. _Your son_ acknowledged him the moment he decided to protect the Hidden Leaf Village and join them in the war, and the Second fought alongside him for that common cause. _**You**_ , on the other hand? Sasuke didn't just stop attacking your village. He tried to understand you. He sympathized with you. And he risked _his life_ to save you! He's done _**more**_ than enough to earn your trust! And the _first_ thing you do after you come back to life is try to kill him when he can't even defend himself?! You're _nothing_ like your children; you're a hateful, ungrateful _**bastard!**_ "

"If only I was stronger in my first life… Then I could have wiped the Uchiha out completely before Tobirama grew to give them too many chances… I guess Hashirama's softness must have rubbed off on him… So disappointing…"

"Do you even hear the words coming out of your mouth?!"

Suigetsu's fury led him to shooting Butsuma's right ankle. The Senju hopped on his left foot a few times in response to the pain, eventually falling to the ground next to the tree. Suigetsu then propped Butsuma's back up to the tree by grabbing his neck, forcing him to sit up, and consequently held Sasuke's sword to Butsuma's gut and his finger to his forehead.

"What is wrong about my words?!" Butsuma asked. "The Uchiha would not have killed nearly as many people if I destroyed them when I-"

"Oh _**fuck off**_ with the righteous crap! You're willing to eliminate _an entire bloodline_ just to satisfy your own anger! Between that and trying to stab Sasuke in the back just now, you're _**no better than Madara!**_ "

Suigetsu's accusation shook Butsuma to the core, the Senju too devastated to respond.

Several minutes passed without Butsuma making a sound, and eventually Suigetsu got impatient:

"You really have nothing to say after that? Not killing you is starting to get boring…"

"If you had it in you, then you would have killed me already, since I'm such an awful person in your eyes…"

"Oh, I'd have _**NO**_ problem killing you _right this second_ if it were up to me. But it isn't; your life is in _Sasuke's_ hands now, not mine. He wanted to save you, so I'll honour his will and keep you alive until he wakes up. _He'll_ decide what happens to you then."

"I don't believe you."

"I figured you'd say that." Suigetsu sighed. "I suppose I'll have to explain our relationship in terms you can understand…"

Suigetsu stepped away from Butsuma, making sure the blade didn't cut him, and sat next to him. "Sasuke is a lot like Hashirama. You haven't experienced true fear until you get on his bad side, but most of the time he's fairly nice, rarely ever killing his opponents and seeking to solve problems without violence whenever he can. _Me_ _,_ on the other hand? I'm more like Tobirama; I _don't play nice._ Resorting to murder to get what I want is fine by me, and I don't empathize quite as much as Sasuke does. I provide Sasuke with a healthy dose of cynicism to balance out his ideals, while Sasuke prevents me from tearing all our enemies' heads off. From how your kids interacted in front of Sasuke and me, I think they had a similar bond to ours. We even have matching hair colours!"

"Now that you mention it…" Butsuma relaxed as he spoke, "… I _do_ see some resemblance. Perhaps I was wrong…"

At that moment, the Senju started to yawn. "That's right… I haven't slept… in fifty-something years…"

Soon enough, Butsuma fell asleep for the first time in his second life.

"Well I don't have to worry about him anymore…"

Suddenly, Suigetsu began yawning as well. "Damn… I guess Volleyball took more out of me than I thought… Sasuke… Karin… I believe in you, so you better wake up soon…"

With that, Suigetsu nodded off, and everyone on the island was resting.

[X-X-X]

Roughly three hours later, two of the four ninja woke up from their slumber. Slowly but surely, Sasuke and Karin returned to life, regaining their heartbeats, and eventually their consciousness.

"What's… going on?" Sasuke wondered aloud as he tried to lift himself off the ground with his right arm, still half-asleep, but found more difficulty than usual doing so. Impatient to figure out if Butsuma or Karin were alive, he instead rolled on the ground until he was on his back, sat up, then stood afterwards. During his roll he noticed the tree was knocked over. He took a few steps towards it, then noticed Butsuma and Suigetsu sitting beside each other against the tree, asleep. He also noticed Butsuma had wounds on his left forearm, right hand, and right foot.

 _He's wounded… that means he's alive. So Samsara of Heavenly Life worked, and I lived through it. But what about…_

"Sasuke? Is that you?" a voice spoke from behind him. Sasuke couldn't recognize it, though he could tell it was rather feminine, and the only woman on the island was Karin. But this voice was a bit deeper than Karin's, which left him very confused. He turned around to meet the source of the voice, and found a woman kneeling on the ground, looking at him. The woman was similar to Karin, with the same clothes, the same glasses, and the same red hair that was even styled similarly, but the hair was too long, reaching the ground, and the clothes seemed to be too tight on her… and Sasuke could also see a small but _noticeable_ bosom through her clothes, something Karin lacked.

"Yes it is. Are you Karin?" Sasuke replied, noticing for the first time his _own_ voice was a little deeper than what he was used to.

Karin nodded. "Yeah… What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think it'll be faster just to take a look at this…"

Karin pulled the hand-held mirror out of her back pouch and handed it to Sasuke. He took a long, hard, look at himself and noticed his own hair was longer. Some of it was long enough to reach his shoulders, and one middle bang was low enough to fall between his eyes. Then he looked down to find that his own shirt didn't reach his waist like it should have, and his pant-legs didn't reach his ankles. For some reason, it seemed as though he hit a growth spurt while unconscious. And apparently, so did Karin.

 _That's odd… Hashirama and Butsuma said I looked like Izuna, but with this long hair I look like Madara…_ Sasuke thought. "You should take a look at yourself too."

Sasuke handed the mirror back to Karin, who gazed at her own reflection.

"What? … I look just like _Mom_ _…_ " Karin said, and then put away the mirror. "What happened to us?"

"I think…" Sasuke crouched to meet Karin's eyes, "… this is _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ 's doing."

It was then that he was close enough to notice a change in Karin's face. Her jawline wasn't quite as rounded as usual, and her lips were even fuller than before.

"I guess that makes sense… We didn't get aged _to death…_ but we did _age._ " Karin said.

Sasuke sat down for comfort. "That would explain why we somehow outgrew our clothes; I got taller and you filled out. And our hair also got longer… but yours got a lot longer than mine."

"I might have aged more than you did. I tried to take as much of the cost as I could… Maybe because of that my ageing was more extreme. Like, you aged two years and I aged twenty?"

"Did you really age that much, Karin? You look like you could still be in your twenties. _Thirty-eight_ seems like a pretty high estimate."

"That's probably just the Uzumaki clan's longevity kicking in, idiot… My face looks more like Mom's _right before she died_ now than it did mine before _Samsara of Heavenly Life._ She was _thirty-six_ when she died, and she looked more or less just like I do now. Just without half her hair spiked on one side."

"I suppose you could be right about ageing twenty years, then… Anyway, your hair is still spiked on one side despite ageing so much…"

"Of course it is! This is my _**natural**_ hair style! You really think I'd get enough free time being warden of Orochimaru's Southern Hideout or traveling with you to _deliberately_ style my hair this way?! The right half of my hair's _always_ been spiked, and the left half has _always_ been straight!"

"Sorry… Want me to help you cut it?"

"Go ahead."

Karin stood up and turned around, holding the now knee-length straight half of her hair with both hands, leaving some space in between them for Sasuke to cut, the space being where her hair ended originally. Sasuke stood up and reached for his sword, but found that it wasn't there.

"What's taking you, Sasuke? Draw your sword and cut, already!"

"That's odd… my sword's disappeared…"

Assuming either Suigetsu or Butsuma took it for some reason Sasuke looked in their direction and found it in Suigetsu's left hand:

"Suigetsu's holding it… One sec; I'll take it out of his hand."

"Why would _Suigetsu_ be using your sword?" Karin asked as Sasuke gently uncurled Suigetsu's fingers, then pushed the hilt out of Suigetsu's hand, and lastly picked it up.

"You don't think Suigetsu was _fighting_ Butsuma, do you?" Karin added as Sasuke walked back over.

"We'll ask them what happened after we cut your hair."

Without another word, Sasuke brushed his sword against the strands of Karin's hair in between her hands, severing all the bonds with one careful slice. Feeling the hair in each of her hands was no longer connected, she let go of both pieces, and the bottom segment hit the ground while the top segment fell to just underneath where Karin's hair originally ended, now right at her waistline.

"My cutting job wasn't perfect, Karin… it's a little longer than before. Sorry about that."

"That's acceptable, I suppose…" Karin turned back around to face Sasuke as he sheathed his sword. "Now we got to wake up Suigetsu and Butsuma and get them to explain what happened while we were knocked out!"

"Honestly, I think they'll have more questions about _us_." Sasuke remarked as he and Karin approached Suigetsu and Butsuma.


	33. Chapter 32: Down to the Last Target

After the Volleyball tournament, Sasuke and Karin's use of _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ , and the battle with Butsuma tiring him out, Suigetsu woke up to find two fingers pressed against his forehead. Knowing the gesture, Suigetsu figured that it was Sasuke that woke him and responded accordingly:

"Thank goodness you're alive, Sa… suke?"

Suigetsu questioned his own thoughts when he saw that the man who woke him up had shoulder-length hair and was clearly taller than him; Sasuke's hair was short and he was slightly shorter than Suigetsu to boot. But Suigetsu knew this man had to be Sasuke, because a Rinnegan was in his left eye, he had no left arm, and he was wearing the same clothes, albeit too small.

"Yeah, it's me." Sasuke nodded as he helped Suigetsu up from sitting next to the tree. It was then that Suigetsu noticed that Sasuke was now a whole head taller than him… and he might have even been taller than Butsuma.

"Since when did you get so _tall?_ " Suigetsu asked as he looked up to meet Sasuke's eyes for the first time since knowing him. "And what happened to Karin?"

"Karin's healing Butsuma right now. He got a few nasty wounds while we were out. As for why I look so different… you should see Karin first before I explain."

"Alright, Boss, but where is -"

Suigetsu's stopped himself as he saw Butsuma lying down on the other side of Sasuke, biting into someone's arm. He walked around Sasuke to find the arm being bitten belonged to a fully grown red-headed woman with Karin's hairstyle and clothes, though the clothes seemed too tight, especially around the chest. "Karin? …"

"Yuck!" Karin yanked her arm out of Butsuma's mouth and looked Sasuke and Suigetsu's way. "This guy's chakra is only _marginally_ less distasteful than Granny Hokage's!"

"That would be because that's Tsunade's great grandfather, Karin. It's only natural they'd feel similar…" Sasuke said.

"Never mind that!" Suigetsu exclaimed upon seeing Karin's new face for the first time. "Since when did you get so _**HOT**_ , Karin?!"

Karin promptly ran up to Suigetsu and slapped him across the face, popping his head like a water balloon. "I got _**older**_ , dumbass! My clothes don't fit me anymore and I have boobs I don't know what to do with!"

Suddenly her mood shifted away from rage and she blushed:

"But I think I can accept it easier if you like me _this way_ too…"

"Aww… Glad to be of help!" Suigetsu smiled as his head reformed, his entire set of sharp teeth showing.

Butsuma then suddenly awoke, and the first words he said turned everyone's attention his way:

"What happened to the both of you?"

"Allow us to explain…" Sasuke said, preparing to tell the tale of how _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ aged himself and Karin…

[X-X-X]

"Damn! So you guys managed to _revive the dead_ and you only got _**growth spurts**_ to show for it?!" Suigetsu responded in awe. "Orochimaru was right; combining the powers of Uchiha and Uzumaki can make _miracles_ happen! I always wanted to split you two apart, but now I'm starting to think you _**belong**_ together!"

Immediately noticing the implication he just made, Suigetsu hugged Karin and gave Sasuke a cold stare. "Not _like that_ , obviously!"

"Of course," Sasuke agreed with a nod. "The Uchiha, Uzumaki, and Senju clans were always supposed to be _family._ While the Uchiha are _Indra_ 's descendants, the Senju and Uzumaki are _Asura_ 's."

Butsuma's eye twitched. "Are you… serious? The Uchiha and the Senju were once _**one**_ clan?!" he asked Sasuke.

"The Uzumaki too. Indra reincarnates into his descendants and Asura reincarnates into his. The current incarnation of Asura is half-Uzumaki, and the previous one was a Senju. Actually, considering Asura and Indra's grandmother had the Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku, the Hyuga and Kaguya clans are also related in some way. Probably descendants of the Sage's brother…"

"Wait, so that means Hinata and Kimimaro are relatives of ours, Sasuke?" Karin inferred.

"Very _distant_ relatives, yes."

Karin started getting a little queasy.

"Don't worry about Naruto and Hinata, Karin." Sasuke added. "The relation is far too distant at this point for there to be any problems with them having children. Same thing with Hashirama and Mito Uzumaki, Butsuma."

"You're… still insistent Hashirama was Asura's reincarnation." Butsuma pointed out. "But what about my objection from earlier? And what did you mean by ' _I have Madara to thank for a way to save me_ '. And how does the mother of the Sage of the Six Paths tie into all this?"

"The whole story is going to take a long time to tell." Sasuke took off his backpack and removed the last bottle of water he had. "Suigetsu, give one of your last bottles to Butsuma; we're all going to be thirsty by the time I'm done talking. We also might want to sit down for this."

As instructed, Suigetsu removed one of his water bottles from his belt and tossed it over to Butsuma. Meanwhile, Karin took her own final water bottle from Sasuke's backpack. Then everyone sat down in a circle, looking in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke started his tale like so:

"Alright, here's a story I like to call _Rise and Fall of the Moon Eye Plan_. It's a tragedy starring one Madara Uchiha, walking a solitary path to his idea of true peace, believing himself to be a god and the saviour of the world. However, his pride and his inability to trust others blinds him to the truth; he is ultimately just a pawn carrying out the will of a much older and greater evil than himself. The insignificance of his true role is so great that he merely has _one short scene_ in the final act of the play…"

[X-X-X]

When Sasuke finished relaying _Rise and Fall of the Moon Eye Plan_ , it was nighttime, and everyone had finished their water. Karin, Suigetsu, and Butsuma were speechless for several minutes.

"I… I see…" Butsuma eventually spoke up. "I came to believe Hashirama couldn't have been Asura's reincarnation because Madara did not acquire the Rinnegan until the end of his natural lifespan. He had to experience death before it could be awakened."

"Same as me," Sasuke said. "I didn't get the Rinnegan until Naruto handed me his chakra and I 'died' after that".

"And you have Madara to thank for us saving you because Sasuke saw Black Zetsu force Obito to revive Madara the same way." Karin added.

"And Kaguya was the one who created Black Zetsu and ordered him to do all that bad shit so she could be resurrected…" Suigetsu concluded. "She definitely tops Yoshitsune in the _crazy bitch_ department!"

"There is still one thing I do not understand." Butsuma said. "If Madara was being manipulated by Black Zetsu the entire time, then why was _**I**_ summoned in the first place? He knew in advance my DNA could not have helped Madara acquire the Rinnegan…"

"If I had to guess, it would be… so that Madara could annul his _Impure World Resurrection_ contract, if he had to be revived with it. Black Zetsu intended on Madara being revived with _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ , with Nagato sacrificing himself in the process. If there ever came a time when Nagato was dead and Obito didn't want to revive Madara either, like what happened after Naruto defeated Nagato, then Black Zetsu needed an alternate method to revive Madara as a back-up. That was _Impure World Resurrection_. By leading Madara to Tobirama's scroll, Black Zetsu could guarantee Madara could free himself from _Impure World Resurrection_ 's control. Then by having you come here, a remote island between Ryuchi Cave and the Hidden Leaf Village, you would catch Orochimaru's attention, leading him to learn _Impure World Resurrection_ and providing a summoner for Madara. However, by the time Black Zetsu needed Orochimaru to summon Madara, Orochimaru was dead himself, so he needed someone else to fill the role. That's Kabuto, who learned the _Impure World Resurrection_ technique after I defeated Orochimaru. Black Zetsu led Kabuto to Madara's corpse so he could summon Madara as leverage against Obito and as his trump card in the Fourth Ninja World War. That way, when Itachi and I made Kabuto release _Impure World Resurrection_ , Madara could free himself and remain in the living -"

"Hold on!" Karin interrupted. "How did you and Itachi know where to find Kabuto in the first place, Sasuke?"

"According to Itachi, it was because of Nagato. They were paired up together during the war, and Nagato sensed the source of the chakra controlling them. When Big Brother was freed from Kabuto's control, he knew where to go to end the _Impure World Resurrection_ technique. I just followed him."

"So Nagato was another Uzumaki with sensing abilities…" Karin inferred. "Could it be that he was a descendant of _Kagura the First_ like me?!"

Butsuma raised his brow at Karin's question. "Kagura _the First?_ "

Karin nodded. "Yeah, Kagura Uzumaki the First. The creator of the _Mind's of the Kagura_ technique. My mom was Kagura Uzumaki the Second, and I'm a descendant of the first too. My sensing abilities are the best in the world because of that technique!"

Butsuma took a long, hard look at Karin, as if he was trying to find something.

"Now I see it, the resemblance…" Butsuma stroked his chin. "Your eyes… they're just like Kagura's! I'm sorry, Kagura the First's! Indeed, you're a member of the Kagura Dynasty. It's unmistakable!"

"Kagura Dynasty? … Wait, you said something about it earlier today! Karin's a member of this _Dynasty?_ " Suigetsu wondered. "You saying Karin's a _**princess**_ or something?!"

"Sort of… Kagura the First developed an extraordinarily powerful sensing technique. And with it, she managed to _completely usurp_ the leadership of the Uzumaki clan. From that point on, it was her descendants who led the clan. Kagura's direct bloodline, those who can use the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique, became known as the _Kagura Dynasty._ Mito was also a member…"

" _Wow…_ " Karin snuggled into Suigetsu's arms. "I knew I was related to Kagura the First, but I had no idea I was a _**princess!**_ … Don't you feel lucky to be dating _**royalty**_ , Suigetsu?!"

Suigetsu's face turned red. "I _guess…_ " Suigetsu downplayed his elation, but soon raised his voice. "But Karin, aren't you _at all_ angry with your mom for never telling you?!"

"I can understand why she didn't…" Karin's expression softened. "It was probably for my own protection… If I ever learned my ancestors _led_ the Uzumaki clan, I would have bragged about it _constantly_ , knowing how energetic I was… I would have attracted a _lot_ of enemies, especially from the Hidden Cloud…"

"Not if you moved to the Hidden Leaf." Sasuke objected, Karin and Suigetsu both shocked. "If your mother moved to the Hidden Leaf when the Hidden Whirlpool Village was destroyed, she would have been openly accepted as the Clan Leader thanks to being part of the Kagura Dynasty, and could have been protected by a much larger village that was already an ally to the Uzumaki clan to begin with. Naruto's mother was living there too, so family was already present. But she chose to move to the Hidden Hot Water Village instead…"

"Now that you mention it, it _is_ strange…" Karin said. "Why would Mom _not_ go to the Hidden Leaf, when it's the obvious choice for relocation if she wanted to protect and raise me? What could have possessed her to go to a smaller, less hospitable village with no family? …" she trailed off into silence.

"It doesn't matter right now, does it?!" Suigetsu asked. He received dirty looks from Sasuke and Karin alike. "I mean, we still have one target left, right?! We can figure out what happened with Karin's mom after taking them out!"

"That's true…" Sasuke conceded.

"And Sasuke and I need new clothes…" Karin added. "Let's fly back to Shimeri Suna Estate!"

"No, we'll go to the Land of Rivers." Sasuke said. "It isn't that much farther away, and it's not as dry. Suigetsu will definitely have a more enjoyable time there."

Suigetsu nodded. "Yeah, I agree! We should also drop Butsuma off there too!"

"About that…" Butsuma interjected. "I would like to accompany you until your mission is over."

"We _do_ have one seat available…" Sasuke recalled. "Why do you want to join, Butsuma?"

"I've been told that my son, Tobirama, acknowledged you as someone worthy of respect, in spite of your being an Uchiha. I would like to see for myself the kind of person you are to earn that… and I must also make amends for trying to kill you. As someone from the Warring Clans Era, I possess information that's been forgotten by history, so I may be of some use to you in your endeavours. I am also curious as to what path the last Uchiha and the latest member of the Kagura Dynasty will follow. The idea of Uchiha and Uzumaki working together like you did to revive me… It is quite fascinating."

"We'd be glad to have you along." Sasuke stood up and offered Butsuma a handshake.

Butsuma got up and shook Sasuke's hand. "Thank you."

"Just don't go trying to kill Sasuke again, Butsuma!" Suigetsu warned as he and Karin stood together.

"I'll _know_ if you're thinking of killing him, and don't you forget it!" Karin added. "Now let's go!"

Sasuke shook his head. "One last thing before we take off. You mind cutting my hair, Suigetsu? With only one arm, I _can't do it myself_ …"

* * *

(A/N): Why, hello there! It's not often that I do this, but I feel I have to leave an author's note at this juncture. You may be used to _Hawk's Final Hunt_ being updated with two chapters per week. But from this point on the chapters will be getting longer, and with few exceptions only one chapter will going up per week. Also, there will be several big events happening in the story itself shortly (yes, even bigger than Sasuke and Karin being aged up through Rinne Tensei and Butsuma Senju of all people joining the party) so now would be a good time to leave a review and get your thoughts about the story sorted out. All I wanted to say. Thank you for your support and look forward to chapter 33.


	34. Chapter 33: Beginning of the End

After Suigetsu helped Sasuke cut his hair, Sasuke summoned Odaka and lifted off with the rest of Taka and Butsuma in tow, Butsuma taking the seat Jugo once sat in. It took them only a few hours to reach the southern coast of the Land of Rivers, arriving during the night. Since they would not be able to find new clothes for Sasuke and Karin until the following day, they found an inn nearby and spent the night there. Just before going to bed…

"There's something I've been curious about for a while, Butsuma…" Karin said.

"What do you wish to know, Lady Karin the Second?"

" _ **Just Karin is fine!**_ " she shouted, and then quickly calmed down. "Anyway, you said earlier that Kagura the First usurped leadership of my clan because she invented the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique. _How_ exactly did she do it? I know it's a very useful ability first-hand, but to warrant a whole clan to swear fealty to you over their previous leader is just…"

"From what I heard from my parents, the Uzumaki clan initially _laughed_ at Lady Kagura the First for ' _wasting_ ' so much time developing an extremely potent _sensing_ technique when the clan was focused on _sealing_ techniques. That was, of course, until one day when Lady Kagura the First sensed the _Nine-Tailed Fox_ attacking a town over five kilometres away. With her guidance, members of the Uzumaki clan were able to use their _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ to pin down and eventually _kill_ the Nine-Tailed Fox, saving the town without endangering themselves in the process. Lady Kagura the First received the credit for killing the Nine-Tails and saving the town, and as such the Uzumaki, by majority vote, saw fit she lead the clan."

"Kagura the First _**killed**_ the Nine-Tailed Fox?!" Suigetsu interjected. "But it's alive today, sealed in Naruto!"

"The Tailed Beasts don't _stay_ dead." Sasuke explained. "If one is killed, it'll just come back some time later. That's why I resorted to sealing them all in _Planetary Devastation_ to get rid of them for my 'revolution'; killing them wouldn't have made any _long-term_ change to the world."

The Uchiha looked down in contemplation. "Still, the idea that the Uzumaki could kill the Nine-Tails, easily the strongest of the Tailed Beasts after the Ten-Tails… I'm having a hard time believing it myself."

"I supposed you would." Butsuma remarked. "After all, such a feat was _unprecedented_ for the Nine-Tailed Fox. Several clans managed to kill lesser Tailed Beasts a few times, but with the Nine-Tails, that was the first. No clan was capable of killing the Nine-Tails before the Uzumaki did it. I don't know about since though, as I died before the Senju clan ever learned when the Nine-Tails revived."

"No one's done it _since_ either." Sasuke said. "If the Nine-Tails revived after your death, then it would have been shortly before the formation of the Hidden Leaf Village. The Hidden Cloud Village was formed not long after that, and that was when the Gold and Silver Brothers tried to capture it."

"And that led to the creation of Two Lights Valley!" Karin added. "After two weeks, the Nine-Tails puked Kinkaku and Ginkaku out at Two Lights Valley, getting weaker but _**not**_ dying!"

"And soon afterwards, Madara took control of the Nine-Tails and fought Hashirama with it, in a bid to get his DNA for the Rinnegan." Sasuke continued. "When that battle was over, Hashirama immobilized it just long enough for his wife, Mito Uzumaki, to arrive and seal the Nine-Tails within herself to prevent the Nine-Tails' power from being used ever again, becoming the first Jinchuriki since the Sage of the Six Paths himself. That led to Hashirama capturing and lending out the other Tailed Beasts to the other Hidden Villages as a way to provide balance between the Five Great Nations during the first ever Five Kage Summit, those villages using Jinchuriki as well after that. And since then, the Nine-Tails has gone from one Jinchuriki to the next before its hosts died, first from Mito to Kushina, then from Kushina to her son Naruto, albeit half of the Nine-Tails was sealed inside the Shinigami alongside the Fourth Hokage at the time of the latter, only for both halves to reunite inside Naruto at the end of the Fourth Ninja World War."

"So the Uzumaki were responsible for the only time the Nine-Tails died, on top of keeping it sealed away for almost a century…" Suigetsu inferred.

"It's no wonder the Nine-Tails hated Naruto's guts at first. The Nine-Tails probably hated the Uzumaki clan altogether quite a lot… Maybe even more than Madara." Sasuke concluded.

Karin smiled. "Anyway, now I know how my ancestor Kagura the First came to lead the Uzumaki clan." "Thanks Butsuma!"

 _If only I could control my chains… then I'd be able to do something just as awesome…_ the Uzumaki thought as she removed her glasses and closed her eyes, ready to fall sleep.

[X-X-X]

When Taka and Butsuma woke up the following morning, the first thing Sasuke and Karin did was shop for new clothes. Sasuke's new outfit included a dark blue t-shirt with a high collar, similar to the one he wore four years ago when he defected from the Hidden Leaf, but without the Uchiha clan crest embroidered on its back yet. He also wore dark brown pants with a purple belt holding his sword's sheath and his pouch in similar places they were before, and he kept the same backpack, just loosening the one over-the-shoulder strap enough to fit his new physique. Topping his outfit off were blue sandals and a blue wristband. Karin, meanwhile, chose a maroon turtle-neck sweater-dress covering her whole torso and arms to the wrist, with the bottom portion resembling a miniskirt. The latter was made more apparent with the belt she wore at her waist holding her back pouch, the same one she wore before, just made slightly looser to accommodate her new figure. She also decided to wear similar short shorts and thigh-high sandal-boots, each one size bigger than before, though the shorts were covered by the end of the aforementioned sweater-dress.

After the two changed and reunited with Suigetsu and Butsuma outside, Sasuke pulled out the hint scroll once again and laid it down on the ground, crossing off all the names except for the last one.

" _Twin Gods of Death…_ our final target." Sasuke said.

"The first order of business would be figuring out what the two _Gods of Death_ the title's referring to are, right?" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke nodded. "I already have an idea about one of them: the Shinigami."

"You mean that thing the Hokages came out of?!"

"Yes. We already know the Shinigami's tied to Orochimaru, so it only makes sense one of the _Twin_ _Gods of Death_ is referring to the _literal_ God of Death, the Shinigami."

"Excuse me," Butsuma interjected, "but you said the Hokages came out of the Shinigami?"

"You know how I said Orochimaru summoned your children for a different reason than you seeing them again?" Sasuke asked, Butsuma nodding in response, "That reason was to challenge his teacher, the Third Hokage. Four years ago, Orochimaru infiltrated the Chunin Exam finals and challenged the Third Hokage to a death match. During the battle, Orochimaru used the _Impure World Resurrection_ technique to summon the First and Second Hokages, using them to fight the Third. Being immortal puppets, the only means the Third had of defeating them was to use the Shadow Clone jutsu in conjunction with the _Reaper Death Seal_ ; he summoned the Shinigami and tried to pull in the souls of both Hokages and Orochimaru at the cost of his own. He managed to take your children, but his age made him too weak to take Orochimaru as well, so he settled on sealing away Orochimaru's arms, hoping that it would result in him never using jutsu again. He managed to use jutsu again after taking a new body, though Orochimaru was never quite at full strength after that regardless…"

"But four years later," Suigetsu added, "during the Fourth Ninja World War, Orochimaru picked up a mask in the Uzumaki clan's Mask Storage Temple next to the Hidden Leaf and used it to summon the Shinigami again, releasing his arms along with the souls of the first four Hokage and half of the Nine-Tails. That's what Sasuke and I witnessed."

Butsuma closed his eyes and stroked his chin. "I see… Hmm…"

"At any rate, we still don't know the second God of Death Orochimaru's referring to here…" Sasuke pointed out.

Karin's jaw dropped. "Could it be ... _**Jashin?!**_ " she suddenly shouted.

Sasuke and Suigetsu were taken aback, while Butsuma remained lost in thought, ignoring her.

"What's Jashin?" Sasuke and Suigetsu asked in unison as they recovered.

Karin took a moment to jog her memory. "It's the deity of Jashinism, a religion that used to be popular in the Land of Hot Water. Followers would conduct a ritual to become immortal, and could remain so as long as they kept killing people. But the religion was outlawed by the Hot Water Daimyo after the First Ninja World War. I don't know any more details than that, but still… a god that commands its followers to kill anything and everything to continue receiving its blessings? That could be considered a _God of Death_ , couldn't it?"

"I suppose so, yeah." Sasuke nodded. "But who could possibly be related to both the Shinigami _and_ this 'Jashin'?"

"There is… one person that comes to mind…" Butsuma spoke up, shocking all of Taka. "Though I'm not sure if the 'Jashin' you have in mind is the same 'Jashin' I have in mind."

"What do you mean by that, Butsuma?" Suigetsu asked. "You saying there's more than one Jashin? What other Jashin is there?"

"You're not going to like this Karin, but…" Butsuma took a deep breath, "the Jashin I know was the leader of the Uzumaki clan before your ancestor Lady Kagura the First took over… Jashin _Uzumaki._ "

"Jashin _**Uzumaki?!**_ " everyone replied in bewilderment.

Butsuma sighed. "Yes… I don't know the exact details since I only heard about this from my parents, but when Lady Kagura the First usurped control of the Uzumaki clan, Jashin Uzumaki was _not_ happy about it. Eventually, though I have no idea how or why, he developed an immortality ritual that required that he kept killing people to sustain it. Lady Kagura the First sensed an unnaturally _evil_ chakra coming from him after that, and tried to have Jashin executed. But with Jashin being immortal, Lady Kagura the First could not kill him. So she attempted to incapacitate him with the clan's _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ , but Jashin was skilled enough to dodge all the attempts and flee from the clan. I assume Lady Kagura the First might have been able to track him down, but leading the clan took priority and she let the trail grow cold. The last anyone saw or sensed Jashin Uzumaki, either by your clan or mine, Karin, was in the _Land of Hot Water_ , strangely enough."

Karin's eyes widened with horror.

"Evil chakra… Land of Hot Water… Mom's killer! They were a follower of Jashin! But the one they worshiped was no _god_ ; they worshiped my clan's former leader, _**Jashin Uzumaki!**_ "

"That would make the most sense." Sasuke said. "It wouldn't have been the first time people deified living things, and it wouldn't have been the last either…"

"But how does that relate to the Shinigami, Butsuma?!" Suigetsu shouted.

"That's something I actually lived through. While Jashin was never seen or heard from again, his _son_ was. At some point in time Jashin must have had a son, for someone with similar evil chakra encountered the Uzumaki clan in the Land of Rain and tried to destroy them - I assume to avenge his father's disgrace - _also_ calling themselves Jashin Uzumaki. But he was stopped before he could do much damage by the son of Lady Kagura the First, Kamina Uzumaki. He put on a mask, and called upon some kind of spectral figure to seal away Jashin Uzumaki the Second's soul along with his own."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "A _mask_ , you say?"

"Yes, a mask. After hearing about Orochimaru's encounters with the Shinigami, I believe I've come to the same conclusion as you: that Lord Kamina was the first person to call upon the Shinigami for anything, and the _Shinigami Mask_ was made specifically for sealing Jashin away, though it wound up being used on his son instead. If I recall correctly, this took place one year before Hashirama was born…" Butsuma trailed off into silence.

"Wait a minute!" Suigetsu objected. "If Jashin the Second was sealed inside the Shinigami along with Kamina, then shouldn't their souls have been released when Orochimaru emptied the Shinigami's belly during the war?!"

"There's another possibility." Sasuke said. "Perhaps someone released them _earlier…_ Maybe before the Fourth Hokage even called upon him to seal half the Nine-Tails."

"Who would do that, though? And when?" Karin asked.

"There's one particular event I'm thinking of that answers both those questions." Sasuke's expression turned grim. "The destruction of the Hidden Whirlpool Village."

Everyone was flabbergasted, Karin most of all.

"Settle down and think about it." Sasuke continued. "Perhaps, if the Uzumaki were driven into a corner by the constant warfare, they'd get desperate, and put on the _Shinigami Mask_ in an attempt to take the enemy with them by releasing Jashin the Second and Kamina. It also explains your mother's actions, Karin… She'd be evacuated because the village expected to be destroyed and wanted to make sure the head family survived. And then, if your mother sensed the evil Jashin chakra from the direction of the Hidden Whirlpool Village during her escape…"

"Then she'd know that Jashin the Second returned successfully and went to the Hidden Hot Water Village to warn them…" Karin deduced desolate. "And she stayed there so she could deal with Jashin the Second or any emerging followers if she sensed that evil chakra. And she did one more thing to try to stop them…"

"What would that be?" Suigetsu asked softly as he approached Karin in an attempt to comfort her.

"Train my _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique before anything else." Karin concluded, cuddling slowly in Suigetsu's arms. "I needed the technique… to be able to sense the evil Jashin chakra coming… and flee if anything bad happened. I suppose she would have taught me how to use my chains next so I could actually fight back against them, but she died before she got the chance to…"

Karin started crying. "Mom… she was grooming me into being a _weapon_ she could use against Jashinism… Oh god… I was… just a _tool_ to her…"

"No. That's wrong." Sasuke objected, Karin looking to the left, facing him. "While she might have wanted you to fight against Jashinism eventually, I don't think she considered you a tool. No; she really loved you, Karin."

"How are you so sure … Sasuke?" Karin despairingly asked.

The Uchiha raised his hand and poked himself in the forehead with his index and middle fingers:

"I know what treating someone like a tool looks like, because I did _just that_ not too long ago. While your mother dedicated herself to protecting the world from Jashinism, she never failed to consider your safety. When she finally sensed a follower of Jashin emerging, she told you to hide at the outskirts of the village and run away if she failed… Those aren't the actions of someone using another as a tool. If she really thought of you that way, then she would have used you as a _meat shield_ to give the follower of Jashin an opening, letting her subdue them without any trouble. I know because… because that's what _I_ would have done when I was consumed by hatred… sacrifice someone without hesitation to reach my goal. You understand that better than anyone, Karin…"

Karin thought back to when Sasuke stabbed through her to reach Danzo. "You're right about that… But that's not what happened… Mom… she tried to engage the follower of Jashin on her own…"

"And through her orders… she died _protecting_ you." Sasuke finished for Karin. "Never forget that; your mother _loved_ you, and died keeping you safe."

Karin shook herself out of Suigetsu's hold and rushed to hug Sasuke, still crying.

"Thank you, Sasuke…" Karin spoke through her tears.

Sasuke pet Karin on the head. "You're welcome, Karin…"

"You seem to be _**WAY**_ more okay with Karin touching you than before, Sasuke!" Suigetsu interjected, brows furrowed.

"We went over this yesterday; she's like family to me." Sasuke responded, Suigetsu's eyes widening. "A brother should be able to comfort their sister when they need support, right?"

Karin looked up into Sasuke's eyes, her tears drying. "I'm like a _sister_ to you?"

"I think so…" Sasuke looked down to meet Karin. "I mean, I've never really seen a brother-sister bond up close, not even Temari and either of her brothers, so I have no way of accurately judging it… but I know _you._ When we first met each other while I was training with Orochimaru, I thought you were like Sakura, but your similarities with _her_ are only superficial. I see that now; after going on this journey with you, I've come to notice you're a lot more like _Naruto_. Your way of nicknaming people, your showing off, your unpredictability, your boundless energy… they're all Naruto's. And Naruto is like a brother to me, so… I figure you're the closest thing I have to a sister."

"A sister, huh…"

Karin let Sasuke go to think. _I agreed to stick around because you told me you wanted to form a bond with me for real… You hoped we could become friends, but now, it seems like we're even closer than that… It's not the sort I imagined when I first saw you Sasuke, but you_ _ **do**_ _love me after all…_

"That's all fine and dandy, but we still don't know how Jashin the Second's related to Orochimaru!" Suigetsu pointed out.

"Orochimaru… might be the reason Jashin the Second hasn't shown himself since the destruction of the Hidden Whirlpool Village…" Sasuke thought aloud. "We know he couldn't do his Curse Mark experiments as soon as he returned home from training with Warushizen because he was pre-occupied with the Third Ninja World War. Maybe he intercepted Jashin the Second after he was released from the Shinigami and locked him away somewhere so no one would die by his hands again…"

"But wouldn't that mean one of us would have met him already?" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "Not necessarily. Warushizen was buried in the foundation of the Northern Hideout, yet none of us - not even Jugo - had any idea he existed. _Twin Gods of Death_ might be a similar case, especially given his class."

" _Flee on Sight…_ " Karin, Suigetsu, and Butsuma spoke at once.

"The only individual who was ever branded with a _Flee on Sight_ order in the history of the Hidden Villages was the Fourth Hokage, who could defeat entire platoons all by himself in a matter of seconds thanks to his mastery of the _Flying Thunder God_ technique. In order to give a _Flee on Sight_ class to _Twin Gods of Death_ , Orochimaru must have thought that they were _at least_ as dangerous as the Fourth Hokage… and sealed him away accordingly."

"But where would he be sealed away, Sasuke?" Karin asked.

"I don't know… I guess we'll just have to search all his hideouts one-by-one until we find someone with similar evil chakra to the one that killed your mother, Karin, starting with the hideout closest to our current location."

"We're in the southern Land of Rivers right now… So that means…!" Karin raised her hands to her chest as she gasped in realization.

"Yeah… The hideout closest to us right now is the one where you first joined my team when we were still called Hebi." Sasuke said as he picked up the hint scroll and put it away. "Our next stop… is _the Southern Hideout._ "

In the next moment, Sasuke summoned Odaka and everyone got on board in their usual seats. Filled with an ominous nostalgia, understanding that the first destination of Hebi could very well be the last destination of Taka, the team took flight yet again.


	35. Chapter 34: The Southern Hideout Secret

Along with Butsuma, Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu flew east-south-east to a remote island near the Land of Waves, just south of the Land of Fire. This island was small - but not as small as the island Butsuma was stranded on - and had a rock formation on top that looked similar to a tent. Taka knew, however, that this strange rock formation at sea rested atop a large underwater prison that once held a majority of Orochimaru's captives. Of course, those prisoners were freed by Taka themselves when Sasuke recruited Karin. The place should have been empty by now, without a single sign of life.

And that's what Taka initially thought when they reached the Southern Hideout that fateful afternoon.

"I'm not sensing any chakra in the hideout…" Karin said, nervous as Sasuke approached the door to the hideout.

"It's possible that Orochimaru placed a barrier here to keep anyone from sensing _Twin Gods of Death_." Sasuke pointed out. "If they were so dangerous that Orochimaru gave us a _Flee on Sight_ order, then he would have done everything in his power to make sure no one ever made contact with him."

Suigetsu trembled with anxiety. "Then shouldn't we just _**keep it that way?!**_ This is a remote island in the middle of nowhere. Only people who knew Orochimaru have any idea the Southern Hideout even exists, and among them damn near no one has reason to show up! Jugo's busy with his Sage training, Kabuto just wants to stay home, the prisoners we freed sure _**as shit**_ don't want to come back, Fuzai's in prison for life, Yoshitsune and the Curse Mark Army are Sand ninja now, Nashiken and Warushizen are _**dead**_ , and Orochimaru himself has got a new hideout he's chilling in now! That just leaves us!"

"How can you be so sure, Suigetsu?" Sasuke asked. "Just why do you think Orochimaru enlisted your help building a new hideout in the first place instead of just crawling back to one of his old ones?"

"Umm… I never really thought about it."

"Well _**we**_ did!" Karin shouted. "When we were looking for Orochimaru before meeting up with you in his new hideout, we thought that Orochimaru must have abandoned his old ones if he even bothered!"

"Because the world at large probably knows where all his hideouts are by now." Sasuke added. "So anyone could stumble in here by accident and let loose whatever Orochimaru might have sealed away. Better we check on things before anyone else gets hurt."

"Oh…" Suigetsu closed his eyes, contemplating. "But is there any proof of that interpretation?"

"There is now…" Karin pointed up in the sky towards a white bird. "We were being followed ever since we left the Land of Rivers."

Suigetsu foamed at the mouth in shock.

"Why didn't you say anything about this earlier?" Butsuma interjected. "My own sensing range is too small to pick up chakra from that far away, and all I _saw_ was a white bird…"

"I'm sure that's because telling you would lead to you acting all suspicious!" a loud and wild voice yelled from above them as the white bird descended to the entrance of the Southern Hideout, facing Taka and Butsuma, and then dissolved into ink when the three humans and the one dog on it disembarked. Taka and Butsuma turned around to face them as well.

"But you went the whole flight without engaging us! So you're off the hook… too bad for me! I was hoping I'd get to kick your ass and steal your title of _Naruto's Number 1 Rival,_ Sasuke!" The voice exclaimed again as the dog walked around the source.

"Arf!" the dog added.

"… Nice to see you too, Kiba, Akamaru…" Sasuke replied, and then turned his attention to the two behind Kiba. One of them was wearing a thick hood, a collar even higher than Sasuke's own, and some sort of dark spectacles, concealing most of his face. The other one had the same skin and hair colour as Orochimaru but none of the creepiness to go along with it, and a similar face to the one Sasuke had before using _Samsara of Heavenly Life_. "Likewise to you two, Sai, Shino..."

"You… recognized me… Sasuke Uchiha…" Shino said, almost in disbelief.

Sasuke smirked. "How could I _not_ recognize you? Your compulsion to conceal your face is your defining characteristic. Second only to Kakashi's compulsion to have his mask on at all times…"

The Uchiha then pointed to a red-head shivering on the ground next to him. "Your chakra scaring the pants off Karin also helped."

"Tell me, Sasuke…" Karin struggled to get up. "How come the hooded guy's chakra is so… _creepy?_ "

"Why does my chakra come off as 'creepy' to you? Glad you asked." Shino excitedly replied while Kiba smacked himself in the face. "You see, as a member of the Aburame clan, parasitic insects are inserted into my body at a very young age. They feed on my chakra to reproduce, and in exchange, they obey my every command. So what you sense is not just my chakra, but the chakra of countless parasitic insects within my body. Did you find my explanation up to your standards?"

"I suppose…" Karin wiped the dust off her butt as she recovered from her fall. Then she took herself aback in realization. "Wait… _Aburame_ … I've heard that name before somewhere… And your chakra's also familiar…"

"I believe I can answer your questions regarding Shino-kun." Sai said. "You and Sasuke were together at the Five Kage Summit, including when Sir Danzo was killed, yes?"

"Yeah…" Sasuke and Karin both confirmed, solemnly looking at each other.

"One of Sir Danzo's bodyguards there was a relative of Shino-kun's: Torune Aburame. You may have sensed his chakra there."

Karin sighed in relief.

"Of course…" Sasuke said while he approached Sai. "It figures you'd know. You're a Root agent."

" _Former_ Root agent." Sai corrected, Sasuke raising an eyebrow. "After Sir Danzo was killed, it was decided through consensus from the remaining members that Root be abolished, both officially and unofficially. Most former Root agents are now standard Anbu operatives… As for me, I am but a simple Hidden Leaf Jonin, and a member of Team Seven."

"So why were you three following us anyway?" Suigetsu asked. Akamaru barked loudly at the notion of being ignored. "Sorry: you _**four!**_ " the Hozuki added.

"It seemed like you guys bailed on the future Tsuchikage's party!" Kiba explained. "The guests were all forced to leave Shimeri Suna Estate after Lee made his stunt, but Hinata kept watching you guys and saw Sasuke and Karin pass out. The party couldn't check on you without violating the evacuation order, so they did the next best thing: have Naruto zoom back home at full speed and tell the Hokage about it before the day ended! I bet the only reason Sakura isn't with us is because she was already on a mission of her own!"

"Our mission was to confirm your safety." Shino added. "We were headed to the island Hinata spotted you on, but then Kiba and Akamaru smelled Sasuke in two locations underneath us… I sent my insects to go check, and they only followed one scent… That one had your chakra, so it must have been the real Sasuke. We followed you from there… and now that your safety has been assured, we can report our success. Captain Sai, if you would please draw another bird for us to fly on…"

 _That other scent must have been Sasuke's old clothes, which he trashed along with mine…_ Karin thought.

Sasuke shook his head. "Your mission isn't over yet. We suspect that there might be an extremely dangerous enemy inside. Would you be able to circle overhead and watch the place while we investigate? And set up another ink bird for a quick getaway just in case things go wrong?"

"That, we will do." Sai nodded, then took out a scroll and an ink brush and drew a pair of birds, brought them to life, and had one stationed right next to the shoreline and one right next to him. He, Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru boarded the bird next to Sai, leaving the one at the shore for Taka.

"Please stay alive!" Sai shouted as they ascended.

Without another word, Sasuke turned back to the entrance to the Southern Hideout and opened the door.

[X-X-X]

When Taka and Butsuma entered the Southern Hideout, they quickly scoured the hideout for any signs of a barrier or a clue as to where _Twin Gods of Death_ might be, but they found no success for what seemed like over an hour. Eventually, only one room remained to be examined: the very same room Karin agreed to join Hebi in. The room was nostalgic for everyone there, save Butsuma, for absolutely nothing had changed between then and now, except for a little more dust between the bricks.

"Hey Suigetsu, do you mind cleaning out this room of dust?" Sasuke asked. "There might be something behind or in between one of these bricks."

"Like how I cleaned out Fuzai's kitchen? Sure thing!"

Upon complying, Suigetsu approached a wall and turned his arms into water. He put them in the spaces between the bricks and allowing his hands to solidify on the other side, trying to feel for anything strange. First he cleaned out the sides of the bricks, and then went for the top and bottom. This repeated for several minutes, and during the monotony Karin got bored, lied down on the couch in a corner of the room, and yelled:

"How long is this going to take, Suigetsu?! You've only done half a wall! You plan on making me wait a whole hour?!"

"I have to be careful I don't missing anything behind the walls! If you're so impatient, then why don't you pitch in and look under the sofa?!"

"That's a good idea, Suigetsu. I'll do the same thing." Sasuke replied. Then he walked toward the couch and bent down, trying to see under it. "Hn… It's too dark. We'll need to lift it to see anything. Karin, get off. Butsuma and I will lift the couch and you can look under it."

"Your assistance won't be necessary in lifting this strange, elongated, twisted chair you call a 'couch', Uchiha." Butsuma grinned as he pointed under Karin. "I can lift this myself. I advise that you remove yourself from this odd piece of furniture immediately, Karin…"

At his warning, Karin quickly sat up from her lying position and got off the couch, standing next to Sasuke. Butsuma then walked to the corner of the room - where the bend in the couch was - reached down and placed one hand under each side, and in one fluid motion stood up with the couch held above his head.

"I'm strong enough to hold this up for a long time, so feel free to search to your hearts' content."

Sasuke and Karin nodded to each other at Butsuma's comment and dropped to their knees, searching the corner of the floor.

After several minutes…

"I think I found something!" Karin shouted, earning her everyone's attention. "This stone in the floor…" she said as she pointed to one such stone in front of her with both hands, "it's _lighter_ than the others!"

"Then let's lift it out of the floor." Sasuke replied as he got up and walked to Karin's position. Then he helped her pull the stone out and let it down a foot or so away. In the space beneath the stone was a small hole in some pavement with a spiral carving around it. "This symbol! It's…"

"Yeah… I've seen it on Hidden Leaf flak jackets… and Naruto's regular jacket…" Karin remarked. "What's it doing here?"

"Even before that, the symbol belonged to the Uzumaki clan."

" _ **It was?!**_ "

The raising of Karin's voice made Suigetsu stop his own search and rush to the rest of the group. "What's going on here?!" he asked.

"We found the Uzumaki clan symbol under this rock in the floor." Sasuke explained.

"Oh…" Suigetsu closed one eye and stroked his chin. "So what's that supposed to mean? The Uzumaki clan symbol showing up in the very same hideout Karin was assigned…"

Karin's eyes widened in disbelief. "No way… Orochimaru must have sent me here to find _this_."

"What do we do with it?" Butsuma asked.

"If there is a barrier somewhere in this hideout, then this might be where we dispel it." Sasuke said. "I'm just guessing at this point, but what if we need to send something Uzumaki-related through that hole? There might be a seal tag on the other end."

"What could we send through, though?" Suigetsu wondered.

"I have a gut feeling about what we need to send through there." Karin admitted, feeling a little queasy.

"Then tell us what it is." Sasuke commanded.

"It's… my blood."

Karin's confession made everyone speechless.

"I'm as Uzumaki as you can get: pure-blooded _and_ Kagura Dynasty. And what better proof of my bloodline is there than my _blood?_ My gut feeling is that something big will happen if an Uzumaki's blood drips into that hole. It's a shame I can't injure myself with my teeth to test the theory…"

"There is a way to draw your blood though…" Sasuke looked to his sword and placed his hand on the hilt. "I could… _cut_ you…"

The suggestion made Karin tremble.

"I understand why you'd be apprehensive… If you don't want to go through with it, I won't force you…" Sasuke added upon seeing her shaking.

"No… I can trust you with cutting my hair, so I should trust you with cutting my skin." Karin sat up and lifted her left sleeve, her face relaxed but her body anything but. "I just need some help keeping my arm steady, that's all…"

At that moment, Suigetsu swayed behind Karin and held her left arm with both of his hands, his left hand grabbing just above the elbow, and the right hand at the wrist:

"You don't need to worry about that as long as I'm here. Now let's stand up and give Sasuke some room. We're right on top of the Uzumaki hole…"

Karin nodded and got up with Suigetsu, walking a few feet away from the Uzumaki symbol. Sasuke also stood up and drew his sword, facing the couple.

"So it doesn't hurt any more than it needs to, bite yourself as soon as I'm finished." Sasuke instructed as he approached. He pressed the base of his blade along the back of Karin's left forearm with the tip pointed to the ceiling.

Karin smiled, showing her canine teeth were ready, and in the next second, Sasuke slashed the blade down through Karin's forearm. This left a deep cut but did not sever the limb completely, her blood now along the entire length of the sword. Karin promptly bit herself to close and heal the wound, and Sasuke took Karin's blood to the Uzumaki symbol, doing his best to aim as much of the falling blood as he could into the hole. Several drops made their way in, but most formed a trail marking the path Sasuke took.

Nonetheless, Sasuke heard a few 'splat' noises coming from the other end of the hole, and in the next few seconds, Karin's hypothesis would be proven right.

Suddenly, everyone heard a loud booming sound from the wall opposite the door they came in from, past where the couch would have been had Butsuma not lifted it. Everyone's gazes turned in that direction to find a part of the wall slowly meld into the corner, revealing a hallway behind it that led to a stairwell.

"So rather than dispel a barrier, Karin's blood _**opened a door?!**_ " Suigetsu shouted in bewilderment.

"No, it also dispelled a barrier…" Karin objected. "Because… I can feel something else in the hideout now."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Some _thing_ else? Not some _one_ else?"

Karin slowly nodded, nearly paralyzed by fear of whatever was at the bottom of the newly-revealed stairs. Next to her mother's death and Sasuke stabbing through her to kill Danzo, this was easily the third most afraid she'd ever felt in her life:

"Some… _thing_ is the best way to put it. Because what I'm sensing… it's very, very strange. This _energy._.. I've never sensed anything remotely like it… It's almost _alien._.. But whatever it is… it's _**not**_ _**chakra!**_ "


	36. Chapter 35: Kagemaru Uzumaki

" _ **Not chakra?!**_ " Suigetsu shouted, flabbergasted at Karin's insinuation. "Well if it's not chakra, then what the fuck is it?!"

"I don't know!" Karin screamed. "I've never sensed anything like this… I suppose I'd be able to figure it out if we got closer and I had more time to analyze it, but…"

"Then that's what we're doing." Sasuke said. "We'll slowly move through the passage in front of us to give Karin time and proximity to this mysterious energy so she can study it, while also making it seem like we're approaching it in earnest… just in case the source of this energy is intelligent. Butsuma, set the couch down at the opposite corner of the room; it was blocking the passage too."

At the order, Butsuma walked across the diagonal of the room to the opposite corner, spun the couch 180 degrees clockwise in midair, and then gently placed the couch back on the floor.

Sasuke and Suigetsu entered the secret hallway first, with Karin close behind them, and Butsuma in the rear. The tunnel stretched on for quite a ways, longer than Taka first expected when they discovered it, but they didn't mind since it worked to their advantage; Karin would have more time to study the strange energy she sensed. Thankfully, the source of the energy did not seem to notice them as it remained stationary, which gave Karin some security despite her dread. This allowed her to analyze the energy fairly quickly:

"I found something! … This energy might not be chakra, but on closer inspection its _composition_ is actually quite similar…" Karin said, breaking the pattern of footstep sounds.

"How do you figure that?" Sasuke asked as he slowed his pace, still moving towards the energy but giving Karin time to explain.

"Well, chakra is the combination of _physical_ and _spiritual_ energy, the two ingredients necessary for an organism to live. And it can be enhanced with the _natural_ energy that composes the world, becoming Sage chakra with three ingredients, right?"

Suigetsu shrugged. "Yeah. So what?"

"This energy _also_ has three components." Karin continued, raising everyone else's eyebrows. "One of them I can identify. The other two I can't…"

"What's the one you can?" Sasuke asked.

"That would be _physical_ energy. Whatever the source is, it definitely has a body that can interact with us through the basic five senses. Whether it's intelligent or not... I don't know."

"Because it lacks any _spiritual_ energy that is usually the source of one's mind, but has two unknown energies that might be able to substitute for it…" Butsuma inferred.

"Pretty much. And out of those two energies, one of them is completely alien to me… The other, while I can't tell exactly what it is, I can tell that it's… _evil._ "

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow. "Even though it doesn't know we're here?"

"Yeah… even despite that. It's very weird… Maybe coming off as _evil_ is just an ordinary quality of this foreign energy, regardless of the intentions of its source… Anyway, the only time I've ever sensed energy anywhere near this _evil_ was…"

"… From your mother's killer." Sasuke concluded.

Karin silently nodded.

"It might very well be that the _Jashinism Immortality Ritual_ involves combining one's chakra with this third _evil_ energy…" the Uchiha continued.

"Regardless, that means this freak of nature we're headed towards might be _Twin Gods of Death!_ " Suigetsu declared.

Sasuke sighed. "It's a possibility, but we won't know for sure until we meet it face to face. Let's keep going."

And so Taka and Butsuma continued down the Southern Hideout's secret tunnel and descended the stairwell at the end. At the bottom of the stairs there was a single iron double-door locked shut.

"There's _another_ door we got to open?!" Suigetsu protested, tapping his foot impatiently.

"You have any idea where the key might be?" Sasuke asked Karin. "You _were_ the warden here…"

"I don't think a key exists in the first place, at least not anymore. For one thing, I've seen every key to every cell in this hideout several times, and they aren't the types that match with this kind of lock. But more importantly…" Karin adjusted her glasses intently, "… I have this suspicion Orochimaru wanted _me in particular_ to open this door."

"With the unbreakable lock pick you usually have on hand." Sasuke inferred. "Anyone from the Uzumaki clan might have been able to dispel the barrier, so Orochimaru made one more precaution, a fail-safe to make sure not just any Uzumaki made their way through to the other side. This lock right here is proof of your hypothesis, Karin… For whatever reason, Orochimaru designed this hideout so that you and you _alone_ would be able to reach its deepest chamber."

"But my lock pick was destroyed during the battle with Yoshitsune… It might have never broken through overuse, but that didn't stop it from being torn to pieces when exposed to gale force winds…"

"There might still be a way to open this door." Butsuma grinned as he raised a fist. "Stand aside."

Taka moved out of the way, Sasuke to the right and Karin and Suigetsu to the left, and Butsuma calmly walked to the centre of the door, winding his right arm back. He released his arm, punching straight through the lock and the door behind it. The force of the blow knocked the two doors wide open, slamming into the walls on the inside of the room just ahead of him, and blasting the lock irreparably apart. Taka resumed their initial position and they entered the deepest room of the Southern Hideout.

On the other side of the now-open doors was a man sitting down cross-legged with their head facing Taka's direction. There was nothing else in the small cubic room except for several candles on the walls and a partially used set of matches, half of the candles currently lit. From what little light the candles provided, Karin could see some features of this man. He was wearing a tattered white long robe with sleeves covering his entire arms save his hands. The robe was kept together by a black obi tied at the waist, and underneath the robe's pant legs, the man was wearing black pants with a few rips in them, and was bear-foot. But what caught Karin's eye more than anything was the man's hair; it was red, roughly neck-length, and spiked… just like the right side of her own hair. The man turned his head up when he heard the door burst open, and upon examining the group for a moment, looked at Karin and asked the most bizarre question:

"Kagura… _darling_ , is that really you?"

At that moment, Karin could see the man's face. He had icy blue eyes and a thick moustache bordering on mutton chops, with stress lines between his nose and cheeks. She didn't think about the man's face, however, because Karin was just as confused as the man, wondering just who would mistake her aged appearance for her mother – or the ancestor she was named after – and also call her _darling_.

Without letting Karin or anyone else provide an answer, the man continued to ramble. "The years have been great to you! You'd have to be almost _fifty_ by now and yet you don't look much older than when we parted ways… But I suppose your age showed itself another way, since you never needed glasses when I knew you… That reminds me… how is our child doing? Are they a boy or a girl? Or are they… dead? And who are those people with you, dear? One of them looks like an Uchiha with the Rinnegan… is he the second coming of the _Sage of the Six Paths_? -"

"Just stop it, please!" Karin interrupted with narrow eyes. "I'm not Kagura! That was my _mother_ 's name, and she's been dead for eleven years! _**My**_ name is _**Karin!**_ I might look like a full-grown adult, but I'm only _**eighteen!**_ I performed a dangerous technique that made me age a lot… but my mind didn't age along with my body…" she started crying herself to silence.

"That explains things then…" the man stood up and made a wide smile. Karin noticed the man was incredibly tall, easily taller than Sasuke and possibly as tall as Jugo.

"Karin would be the name of Kagura's and my child if they were born a girl…" he continued. "Yes… it's in your _hair…_ the left side comes from your mother, while your right side comes from _**me…**_ "

"So you're my…"

Karin was unable to finish her question, overwhelmed by too many emotions to count. She started feeling weak and tipped over, Suigetsu catching her before she fell, helping her up.

"Yes, my _dear_ daughter, Karin… I am your _father_ , Kagemaru Uzumaki." the man said softly as he slowly yet happily walked toward Taka, reaching to hold Karin's face in his hand. It was then that Karin saw red Uzumaki symbols on both of Kagemaru's shoulders.

However, Sasuke quickly stood between the man claiming to be Karin's father and Karin. At the same time, Suigetsu turned his body so he was holding Karin away from her supposed father.

"Why do you two interfere? I've been longing to see my beloved daughter for _nineteen years_ now… Would you truly keep a girl from meeting her father, one she's been separated from since before she was born?" Kagemaru's tone turned sour.

"We don't know for sure if you're even Karin's father or not." Sasuke said, his hand on his sword, ready to counter-attack at a moment's notice.

"Yeah!" Suigetsu added. "Can you tell if this Kagemaru guy is lying, Karin?"

Karin shook her head. "No, I can't… The energy coming off him is so alien to me that I don't know what disturbances mean he's lying… And it's unstable as it is anyway, so a fluctuation might mean nothing…"

"You truly are your mother's daughter, Karin…" Kagemaru commended. "To master the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique to such a degree you could figure that out… I'm so proud of you, my daughter… You may have even surpassed your mother in the art…"

"Don't go pulling the sentimental crap yet, old man!" Suigetsu retorted, Kagemaru taken aback. "How the hell does Karin being your daughter even work from the _hair?!_ People don't split their hairstyles down the middle based on their parents like that!"

"Actually, there _is_ a precedent for this." Butsuma objected from behind them, causing Sasuke and Suigetsu to look back. "I had a third son, Itama. Half his hair was dark like mine, and half of it was white like my wife's. He died while he was a child, so he never made a name for himself like my first two children did… Karin's hair may be a similar case to Itama's. I'm just as suspicious of this man as you are, Suigetsu, but we must concede his point about the hair is _valid_ , if not necessarily true."

"Damn…" Suigetsu turned his attention back on Kagemaru.

"So Kagemaru… it's clear you didn't know Karin's gender until today." Sasuke said. "Let's assume you _were_ the father. What would Karin's name be if she were born a boy?" he asked, knowing that only himself, Karin, and Karin's parents would know the answer.

"That would be… Kamina!" Kagemaru excitedly stated. "Yes, I would have named my son Kamina. Kagura was named after the creator of the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique. Her children ought to be named after the first Kagura's children… and Kamina was the first Kagura's son… I was the one who came up with the idea, actually…"

"You're right…" Karin sighed, doubt leaving her mind. "Even the reason is the same… Then it's true, you really are my father!"

Karin broke out of Suigetsu's hold and tried to run for Kagemaru to hug her father for the first time, but Sasuke stopped her despite the evidence pointing to their relation, putting his arm in the path Karin was taking.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?! You know as well as I do what that answer means!" Karin protested.

"Even so…" Sasuke shook his head then focused his attention back on Kagemaru. "Even if Kagemaru _is_ your father, Karin, that doesn't change the fact that Orochimaru thought that this man was _so dangerous_ that he tried to make sure that only you, _his daughter_ , could speak to him, and he even kept that part a secret from the world. On top of that, there's the strange energy you sensed in him… and its similarity to _that_ tragedy…"

" _Tragedy?_ " Kagemaru interjected, an eyebrow raised. "What _tragedy_ befell my daughter in my absence?"

"We're the ones asking the questions, _daddy!_ " Suigetsu retorted. "As it so happens, Mama Kagura was killed eleven years ago, and Karin sensed her killer! That weird energy coming from you right now… it's got the same brand of _**evil**_ as that killer!"

Kagemaru looked away. "So the one who killed my wife was one of _those_ , then…"

"What do you mean, one of _those?!_ " Karin asked frantically. "What do you know about Mom's killer?! And how does your energy have the same _**evil**_ properties as them?!"

"It all goes back to nineteen years ago, to the day the Hidden Whirlpool Village was destroyed. It was during the Third Ninja World War… The Hidden Cloud gave us an ultimatum six days beforehand: hand over the three-months-pregnant Head Ninja Kagura Uzumaki, or be destroyed in seven days. Naturally, we assumed the attempt to remove Kagura from the village was just a trap to take away our best sensor and they would try to destroy us either way, so we refused, and also sent a messenger bird to the Hidden Leaf to provide reinforcements one day before the scheduled attack."

 _That does sound like something the Hidden Cloud would do, knowing what happened with Hinata and Fuzai's father…_ Sasuke thought.

"The numbers don't add up." Butsuma objected. "You said the ultimatum was given _six_ days before the attack, but you were warned the attack would happen _seven_ days later."

"Obviously the Hidden Cloud attacked one day earlier than they said they would!" Suigetsu remarked.

"That's not quite true, actually…" Kagemaru refuted. "The ones that attacked us first… were the Hidden _Mist._ "

Suigetsu gasped. " _ **What?!**_ "

"Looking back, the invasion was likely a team effort from the Hidden Mist and Hidden Cloud from the very beginning. Only five days after the ultimatum, Kagura sensed the Three-Tails and the Six-Tails approaching the village from underwater. The plan was probably to catch us off-guard with an underwater attack, wearing us down before the Hidden Cloud finished things from above. But thankfully Kagura was able to sense them coming and prepare us before we evacuated her the following morning, and we easily foiled their plan after that, pulling both Tailed Beasts up to the surface and restraining them with our _Adamantine Sealing Chains…_ or at least, that's what we thought."

"How can that be possible? Tailed Beasts planning a pre-emptive strike like that… it's too smart for them, isn't it?" Butsuma thought aloud.

Sasuke shook his head. "No, it isn't. While they might have seemed feral to you, the Tailed Beasts are actually _just as intelligent_ _as us_. The only reason they appeared to be walking natural disasters is because they tended to lash out against humankind for centuries of neglect, and in this particular case, the Tailed Beasts would have had a very good reason to do so: Mito Uzumaki."

"Oh yeah… Mito was the first Jinchuriki since the Sage of the Six Paths!" Suigetsu recalled.

"Exactly," Sasuke confirmed. "The Tailed Beasts as a whole probably blamed the Uzumaki clan for bringing the concept of a Jinchuriki back into human memory, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch for them to join forces in order to take that clan down, as a collective act of revenge."

"That doesn't mesh with what happened next." Kagemaru objected. "Because what _really_ took us off guard was that after we restrained both beasts, the Six-Tails was hit with a large ball made of extremely dense chakra. The resulting explosion destroyed the centre of the village, the Three-Tails was injured beyond repair, and the Six-Tails was obliterated outright… I looked in the direction the ball came flying in from, and on the horizon I saw a giant cat of blue flame with two tails."

"The Two-Tails fired a Bijuudama at its own brethren…" Karin inferred with horror.

"The Two-Tails' Jinchuriki probably had remarkable control over their Tailed Beast." Sasuke said. "That's what the Hidden Cloud was _counting on_ ; they could destroy the Hidden Whirlpool Village and the Hidden Mist's Tailed Beasts in one fell swoop with a Bijuudama, crippling the former for good and forcing the latter to comply with their demands… like setting up combined Chunin Exams where the Cloud has a distinct advantage in the eyes of their allied lesser nations after the war."

Suigetsu's eyes widened. "No way… So the Hidden Mist and Hidden Cloud villages decided to take their Chunin Exams together… and everything that led to… was the result of the Hidden Cloud getting a leg on the Mist by killing one of its Tailed Beasts and crippling the other during their planned invasion of the Hidden Whirlpool Village…"

"So your brother's death… and the fates of my parents… they were connected all this time…" Karin concluded.

"It had a hand in the fate of my clan as well." Sasuke added, startling everyone in the room. "The Two-Tails' Bijuudama: it was strong enough to kill the Six-Tails, who was hit with it full blast, but _not_ the Three-Tails, who didn't take the full brunt of it but still needed a new host to recover from the damage. Because of that, the Hidden Mist was pressured into finding a new Jinchuriki as soon as possible, and within one year they did… Rin Nohara, who's becoming the Three-Tails Jinchuriki resulted in her death… and everything _that_ led to…"

Karin, Suigetsu, and Butsuma went quiet, understanding everything Rin's death caused thanks to Sasuke relaying to them _Rise and Fall of the Moon Eye Plan._

Kagemaru, on the other hand, wasn't fazed and went right back to his story:

"At any rate, the Two-Tails began to charge up another 'Bijuudama' as you call it, planning to destroy the whole country, no doubt… We got desperate, and one of our more cowardly Uzumaki put on the _Shinigami Mask_ , summoning the Shinigami and releasing… Jashin the Second… My memory of the next bit is somewhat hazy, but… I think Jashin the Second possessed the body of the guy in the mask… caught the Bijuudama with his _Adamantine Sealing Chains…_ and threw it back at the Two-Tails, forcing the Cloud to retreat… Then I passed out… and when I woke up… the _Shinigami Mask_ was destroyed… and I was the _only one left alive in the country…_ except the Three-Tails of course…"

"The only one left alive?" Karin asked.

"Yes… I think that once Jashin the Second was done with the one in the mask… they possessed _me,_ and used my body to… massacre the Land of Whirlpools."

Karin was horrified into silence.

"I think that's why my chakra seems so _evil;_ it must be a remnant of Jashin the Second…" Kagemaru continued. "The monster probably just saved the village so he could have the satisfaction of _destroying it himself…_ Fearing that he might still be inside me somewhere, I turned myself in to the Leaf Ninja that soon arrived as reinforcements, and I demanded that he imprison me where no one would find me… for the world's safety."

"That was Orochimaru…" Karin inferred. "He found you and imprisoned you here at your own behest… You're not a monster like Jashin the Second was… You're my father, Kagemaru Uzumaki!"

Karin smiled and tried running up to her father again, but once more Sasuke stopped her.

"Again, Sasuke?! How much more do you need before you're convinced?!"

"This man… is someone I'm _never_ going to trust, Karin."

"Why not, Sasuke?!" Suigetsu asked. "I'm our resident cynic and even _I'm_ convinced this guy's legit!"

"Of course you would be, since a lot of what he says backs up what we already know… it's clear he's _mostly_ speaking the truth. But that doesn't absolve him of trying to manipulate the facts. Remember what I said about Orochimaru?"

"The truth is a more effective _weapon_ than any lie…" Butsuma recalled.

"Then tell me, Uchiha… why do you think I'm trying to deceive you?" Kagemaru asked.

"Oh, there's plenty." Sasuke put up his hand and raised four fingers. "I've got this many problems with your interpretation of events!"

"Four, Sasuke?" said Karin.

"Yeah… My first problem was right at the beginning. _Kamina._ When you said that name, you got excited all of a sudden. For most of your story, you were calm, sad, or relieved… all your emotions were subdued. But that one name made you _jump._ That's strange, especially for a man who claims that's what he would call his _**son**_ if he ever had one. Despite the respect that naming your child implies… it's almost as if you have reason to _dislike_ it."

The notion made Kagemaru's eyebrows spring up in shock. "And your second problem?" he replied, trying to maintain his composure.

"That's farther down the line, and it might not mean as much, but… you called the Uzumaki that put on the _Shinigami Mask_ a coward. The one who put on the mask risked their soul being taken by the Shinigami for eternity in order to save what was left of the village. Scared they might have been, but to call an act as self-sacrificing as that _cowardly?_ It's practically unthinkable."

"And the third problem?"

"This one is the most damning of all." Sasuke said as he placed his arm around Karin's back and pulled her close to him. "This prison… you claim it's to protect the world from yourself, but ' _Kagemaru_ '… the one person who could open your cage is the one person you should protect above all else; your _**daughter!**_ "

 _That is odd, come to think of it… Why could Dad's prison be opened by me in the first place? … If he wanted to protect me, then it should have been made to_ _ **keep me out,**_ _not_ _ **lure me in**_ _…_ Karin thought.

"It could be just because Orochimaru tends to screw with people's expectations of him, but Karin's worth too much to him to play with her life like that." Sasuke continued. "Karin was an expert healer and the only living pure-blooded member of the Uzumaki clan he had any means of controlling when he recruited her. So he wouldn't do anything to risk her being put in danger unless his hand was being forced… which makes me think that Karin being the only one who could free you was _**your**_ idea, ' _Father'_ , _**not**_ Orochimaru's!"

" _ **My**_ idea, you say?" Kagemaru was taken aback, unable to respond further to Sasuke's accusation.

"But that would mean…" Suigetsu looked intently at Kagemaru, brows furrowed.

"… Kagemaru _deliberately put Karin in danger._ " Butsuma finished Suigetsu's sentence, growing stiff.

"That's why it's so damning." Sasuke added. "No parent worth their salt would _**ever**_ let their child come to harm!"

"All of that together… you don't think that man is my father at all, do you, Sasuke?" Karin deduced.

"No, I don't… your father wouldn't do everything I just outlined. The _body_ might belong to your father, but the _mind_ certainly doesn't. What's letting him think isn't even _human Spiritual energy…_ "

The comment made Kagemaru turn away and shake in something resembling fear. "… There's still one more problem…" he pointed out.

"Yes. It's not nearly as significant as the last one, but it's causing me doubt all the same." Sasuke released his grip from Karin and pointed to just behind Kagemaru. "I've kept quiet about it so far, but you can sense the cross right behind him. Right, Karin?"

Karin tilted her head in confusion. "What are you talking about, Sasuke? I can sense the energy coming from _inside_ Kagemaru, but there's nothing right _behind_ him…"

"That's really strange…" Sasuke stroked his chin. "If you're not _sensing_ it, then what could I possibly be _seeing?_ Because I see a cross made with some intense blueish-white flames right behind Kagemaru's body…"

The observation made the older red-head snap back forward and look Sasuke dead in the eyes, his expression turning bitter:

"You're clearly a bad influence. I will not allow your _filthy_ eyes to deceive my _pure,_ _**perfect**_ daughter any longer… Disappear."

The next instant, Sasuke witnessed just a hint of a chain emerging from Kagemaru's chest before it shot out at incredible speeds, spinning to increase its piercing power. The spinning chain was headed straight for Sasuke's heart, but before it could reach its destination, Sasuke's midsection got wet and the chain was stopped in its tracks by Suigetsu clasping his hands together as if to stop a blade from impaling him, having liquefied to get in between Sasuke and Kagemaru's chain before the attack could connect.

"Suigetsu…" Sasuke and Karin said in unison.

Suigetsu smirked. "Leave fighting this one to me! These chains can't do a thing since I can turn into wa-"

The Hozuki's boasting unceremoniously halted. Horrified by the sudden stop in his friend's speech, Sasuke looked from Suigetsu's body up the chain and saw that the chain was electrified, the sound of the charge having been muted by Suigetsu's own words.

" _Lightning Style…_ " Sasuke and Karin bit their lips in apprehension.

The next instant, however, their apprehension warped into despair; Sasuke saw a blue puff of smoke travel up Kagemaru's chain into the cross, and Karin sensed Suigetsu's chakra disappear. Before either of them realized it, Suigetsu's lifeless body collapsed on to the stone floor beneath them.

" _ **SUIGETSU!**_ " Karin cried out in terror, dropping down to her knees and cradling her late lover in her arms. Sasuke, meanwhile, turned his attention to his comrade's killer, silent with fury over Suigetsu's passing as Kagemaru's chain returned to his body.

"You should be focusing on my daughter, Uchiha, not me." Kagemaru said with just a hint of sarcasm. "After all… the last person one thinks about should be the one they love the most… and you're about to die. Fall to the might of Kagemaru Uzumaki!"

Then he shot another spinning, electrified chain at Sasuke. The Uchiha drew his sword and parried the chain with his own electrified weapon.

"Cut the _bullshit_ _,_ you monster…" Sasuke said.

 _No matter how many times you call yourself by that name, you can't hide the truth from these eyes, Twin Gods of Death… Jashin Uzumaki the Second!_


	37. Chapter 36: Flee on Sight

_Dammit… He's attacking me with so many chains that I can't do anything but keep dodging. He's not giving me any openings to counter-attack or flee…_

Sasuke was dominated by the pressure of Jashin the Second's assault using numerous electrified _Adamantine Spinning Chains_. However, Jashin could only attack with such overwhelming ferocity because his aim was solely directed at Sasuke; he left everyone else alone, and someone picked up on that.

"Take this!"

Butsuma's right fist smashed Jashin into the wall opposite the door in time with his roar, crushing the candles adorning the wall behind the latter. "Haven't forgotten about me, have you?"

"Butsuma… Thanks for getting him off my back." Sasuke said as he still kept his eyes focused on Jashin.

"There's no time for that! Take Karin and Suigetsu's body and leave! I'll handle Jashin! Quickly, before he recovers!"

"What are you going to do? A Jashinist can't be killed!"

"There are other ways to defeat someone than just killing them."

Butsuma ran to the wall on his right and punched a hole through it with his left hand. At the moment of contact, water burst into the room, slowly filling it up. "We're _underwater_ right now."

"I see…" Sasuke's eyes widened as he ran to Karin's side. "If we shut the door to the room where we dispelled the barrier on our way out, then eventually the secret passage will fill with water. Jashin will drown and he'll be trapped here until his immortality runs out… and you're volunteering to _hold him off_ until that happens."

"But then you'll die too, Butsuma!" Karin objected, her face full of tears.

"If that's what needs to happen, then so be it."

Sasuke knew immediately what Butsuma was feeling from his choice of words. He sighed and reluctantly poked Karin's back to get her attention. "Come on, Karin… Let's go. We weren't afraid to die in order to save him… now he's repaying the favour. We shouldn't waste Butsuma's will by lingering here."

"Dammit…" Karin cursed as she picked up Suigetsu's body, one arm under his legs and the other supporting his mid-back, and started to run up the stairs with Sasuke just behind her.

With Sasuke and Karin no longer within earshot, Butsuma turned his attention toward Jashin the Second, who was just about to recover.

 _Hashirama… Tobirama… I expected to live a long second life, but it turned out to last no more than a day… But at least now I'll see you again. My children, what would you think of me, dying to save an Uchiha of all people? Can it make up for all the suffering I caused you? … I don't think it can, but strangely… I'm okay with that. Sasuke Uchiha… I've only known him for two days, but Hashirama, Tobirama… your wills… they live on… in him. The fire in his heart… I won't allow it to be extinguished!_

Those thoughts engulfed Butsuma's mind as he prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice.

[X-X-X]

Sasuke and Karin lost track of time during their escape, too distressed by Suigetsu's apparent death and Butsuma's sacrifice to care. They managed to reach the room they found the secret passage in - the room where Sasuke and Karin first became teammates – and shut the door on their way out and firmly locked it, trapping Jashin the Second on the other side. Sasuke and Karin sat down along the opposite wall to take a breather now that the danger was seemingly averted.

"Butsuma's plan… it worked. Now Jashin the Second will never hurt anyone again…" Sasuke sighed in relief.

"Thank fucking go-"

Karin suddenly cut her curse short with a gasp. "Oh no…"

"What's wrong?"

"Butsuma's chakra… is gone! … And Jashin is approaching us! _Fast!_ What do we do?!"

Sasuke got up, and Karin followed suit with Suigetsu's body in her arms on instinct.

"We keep running. I have a plan to stop Jashin for good!" Sasuke said as he started sprinting once more, Karin just behind him. "But we need to be outside for it to work!"

Sasuke and Karin kept running until they reached the set of stairs leading to the exit of the hideout. Right then, Sasuke and Karin heard the sound of metal being ripped apart, and looked back to find Jashin the Second in the same hallway as them with water up to his ankles, having apparently pulled the door out of the wall using his _Adamantine Sealing Chains_. Sasuke took one step down so he could look Jashin eye-to-eye, and before Jashin could rush him, black flames erupted all over Jashin the Second's body, making him keel over in pain.

"These pathetic flames will not stop me!" Jashin the Second screamed.

"But they _are_ slowing you down." Sasuke remarked, his left eye bleeding from using Amaterasu. "And that's all I need them to do. Karin, time to escape!"

"Yeah!" Karin yelled as she exited the hideout with Sasuke right behind her.

They left the hideout to find Sai's ink bird was still there at the shoreline. Karin dashed to it as fast as she could without looking back, but Sasuke turned around to face the hideout only a few steps away, and subsequently formed the Susano'o ribcage without a word. Then he broke it down and reformed the chakra into a makeshift left arm, the same kind he used _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ with. Sasuke was afraid that he might not have had enough time to form the arm, but those fears were alleviated, replaced with a trembling of excitement when he completed it just in time for Jashin the Second to step outside. Before Jashin could react, Sasuke clapped his hands together, and the next moment Jashin the Second was forced into the air against his will:

" _ **Deva Path: Planetary Devastation!**_ "

Sasuke's words echoed across the water and into the sky, alerting the airborne team to his technique.

" _Planetary Devastation?_ Isn't that the jutsu _**Pain**_ used to try to capture Naruto when the Nine-Tails ran wild?!" Kiba asked.

"I believe so…" Shino said, trying his best to mask his fear. "The surrounding area is going to become a miniature moon in no time…"

"If so, then we need to fly away _right now_ before we get caught in it." Sai concluded as he commanded his ink bird to put some distance between themselves and the island below, but still flying close enough to watch the events unfold; he had to know when to make the other ink bird take off.

After warning Sai's team to escape, Sasuke sent Jashin the Second even further into the air, the entire Southern Hideout and the surrounding water going with him. The underwater prison shattered into pieces from the gravity emitted by Sasuke's technique, coalesced around Jashin alongside the water, and formed what appeared to be a small replica of the planet with Jashin as its core. When the technique was complete, Jashin's body was unable to move and Sasuke's Susano'o arm dissipated.

"Phew… My control's getting better, it seems…" Sasuke panted, somewhat tired from having to sustain enough chakra to pull a satellite together, taking several minutes. He thought that perhaps his complete Susano'o could last longer now compared to when he used it against Shin's clones, but now was not the time to test his theory.

"All that's left… is to send you into spa-"

Sasuke was suddenly stunned into silence, and his jaw dropped at the sight before him:

 _Planetary Devastation_ was crumbling.

Sasuke's first instinct was to assume his control wasn't as good as he thought it was and he made a mistake with the jutsu. But on closer inspection, he saw at the places where the technique was beginning to crumble the ends of chains… and soon enough the number of chains doubled, the new ones spinning and enhanced with lightning. Within moments, _Planetary Devastation_ burst open, and Jashin the Second was completely free. The debris from _Planetary Devastation_ fell into the water around the island while the water rained down onto where the hideout's entrance used to be: right on top of Sasuke, and just missing Karin. The former prison now had a stronger resemblance to a shipwreck.

"No way… _Planetary Devastation…_ was a total failure…"

Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes, unable to comprehend how Jashin the Second was able to defeat the technique from the inside after having been caught, when even the Tailed Beasts could not escape his use of it during the war, needing Naruto to defeat him before it could be undone. It was thanks to Jashin's presumably impossible feat - and the rain hampering Sasuke's vision - that Sasuke failed to notice what was going to happen next.

" _ **AAARRGGHH!**_ "

Sasuke let out a blood-curdling scream when he felt chains drilling straight through his knees. Moments later, however, he was unable to feel anything from the waist down, his entire lower body numb to the pain, probably a result of Jashin the Second's Lightning Style paralyzing him. Sasuke collapsed to the ground unable to move, almost completely at Jashin the Second's mercy, their positions utterly reversed compared to mere seconds earlier.

Sasuke saw the chains leave his body with bits of bone and blood and retract inside Jashin, who was now back on the ground safely, though one chain remained extended to some degree, curved to reach his own mouth. It was then that he saw the cross at Jashin's back once more, but this time its orientation was diagonal, more like an _**X**_ than a _plus sign_. Then Sasuke saw the cross rotate back to its original position and Jashin the Second licked the blood off the chain next to his mouth, grinning with ecstasy as the chain retracted into the body. Consequently, the very instant Jashin the Second closed his mouth, all the skin on Jashin's body turned pitch black except for some white markings that resembled a skeleton.

"I must say, young Uchiha blood tastes _**soooo**_ good in this body!" Jashin remarked with twisted, almost orgasmic glee.

 _That settles it then… that body really did belong to Karin's father once upon a time; their senses of taste are practically identical…_ Sasuke thought with disgust. "What happened to your skin? …" he managed to ask.

Jashin the Second looked at his hands with joy rather than focusing on Sasuke. "It's the _Curse Transformation._ I ingest foreign blood, causing the _Curse Energy_ inside me to act up and turn me into _this_ form. It's a requirement for _Jashin's Ceremonial Killing;_ the ritual needed to be performed once a year to retain one's immortality…"

"Once a year… but you've been isolated for nineteen…"

"Of course, I haven't _**needed**_ to perform the ritual since acquiring this body, unmarred by the Curse… I would have died of malnutrition already if I did. The _Jashin Immortality Ritual_ is supposed to Curse one's _entire_ being, body _and_ mind… but if a _Cursed_ mind finds its way into a _non-Cursed_ body…"

"The negative side-effects of the Curse _on the body_ won't occur…" Sasuke's eyes widened with terror. _So his immortality will never end…_ he despaired.

"I don't need to kill like this anymore, but between the nineteen years in the prison you just helped me escape from… and the _**century**_ I've spent in the Shinigami…"

Jashin the Second quickly shot a spinning chain from his left hand through his own right bare foot, causing it to spill copious amounts of his own blood on the ground, and proceeded to use his right foot to draw a circumscribed triangle with his own blood before finishing his sentence:

"… I've missed the _incredible sensation_ that comes from offering my prayers! Here's an example!"

At that moment, Jashin shot another spinning chain, this time from his right hand into his left elbow. Simultaneously, Jashin screamed in elation and Sasuke screamed in agony, the voices creating a terrible melody.

"Do you understand the power of Lord Jashin _**now** **?!**_ Even if you're missing a limb, you can still feel the pain of it being punctured, thanks to the jutsu I just performed: _**Curse Jutsu: Death Possession Blood!**_ While I'm standing inside a _Mark of Jashin_ made with my own blood and I'm in my _Curse Transformation_ , any injury I'm inflicted with will also be dealt to the one whose blood I ingested to transform!… _**You!**_ All I must do to complete _Jashin's Ceremonial Killing_ now is to stab myself in the heart, and thus stab you in the heart!"

Jashin the Second finished his explanation while interlocking his fingers and holding his hands as far away from his body as he could with a puffed up chest. Sasuke figured he was going to shoot a chain from the inside of his hands into his own heart, mortally wounding himself… and thus Sasuke.

"Before I die, please grant me one last request…" Sasuke begged.

Jashin the Second raised an eyebrow at the young Uchiha's surrender, but quickly relaxed himself. "Very well… My god is a generous one, so long as destruction arrives _eventually_. Only one killing is typically needed per year, after all… Speak now, or forever hold your peace."

"It's just… how did you manage to take over Kagemaru's body? I thought dead people released from the Shinigami had their souls sent to the Pure World… That's what happened when I saw it… How is your existence any different?"

Jashin's expression turned grim, frowning and furrowing his eyebrows. "On second thought… dead men won't need to know _anything at all_ where they're going. So you can just go ahead and die, Uchiha!"

Jashin tried to stab himself with a spinning chain from his hands, but the chain was stopped just before it could pierce his skin… seemingly stopped by, from what Sasuke could make out, _another chain_ wrapped around it.

" _ **Never again…**_ " a woman said loudly from behind Sasuke. He looked back to see Karin walking closer to them with an _Adamantine Sealing Chain_ coming out of her right hand, her hair flared up in several directions, glowing bright red. Jashin responded by attempting to stab himself with a chain coming up from his right foot. Karin caught that one as well, with a chain coming from her left breast:

" _ **You stole my father's body…**_ " Karin stated during the catch, still walking forward. Jashin tried to stab himself again, with a chain from his left foot. Again Karin caught it, this time with a chain from her right breast:

" _ **Destroyed my country in his skin…**_ " Karin punctuated her catch. Jashin attempted another stab, a curved chain from his back. Karin raised her left hand and used a chain from there to avert the mutilation again:

" _ **Scared my mother away from her rightful home…**_ "

Karin and Jashin again exchanged similar blows, her thwarting his attempts to kill Sasuke with _Jashin's Ceremonial Killing_ one by one. The next of these sorts was from the shoulders closer to Sasuke, then the shoulders away from Sasuke, and lastly Karin's abdomen intercepting Jashin's forehead when Karin was right next to Jashin.

" _ **Killed Suigetsu… Drove Butsuma to kill himself… Involved Sasuke in your demonic ritual!**_ "

Karin shouted along with her catches, getting louder with each one. At last, she released her complete hold on Jashin, all chains from both sides snapping quickly back inside their bodies as Karin pushed Jashin the Second out of the circle and on to the ground. Sasuke felt the strength of Karin's palms on his chest and they knocked him down as well. Sasuke struggled to sit up, finding Karin kicking the sand on the ground beneath her every which way, ruining the _Mark of Jashin_ and making it unusable.

"Who … Who _**are you?!**_ " Jashin the Second screamed, his _Ceremonial Killing_ thwarted for good; the circle was destroyed and his _Curse Transformation_ had worn off.

Karin crossed her arms and spat at Jashin in disgust. " _ **I told you already… I'm the daughter of Kagemaru Uzumaki, and of Kagura Uzumaki the Second… I'm the last pure-blooded Uzumaki alive, and a member of the Kagura Dynasty… I'm the greatest Sensor Ninja in the world, and a damn good medic too… I'm the Cleric of Team Taka, and Sasuke Uchiha's sister, sidekick, and second-in-command… My name is Karin Uzumaki the Second, and you'd best remember it for the rest of your eternal life!**_ "

"Those titles… are meaningless!" Jashin the Second replied in panic, trying one more time to kill Sasuke from where he was crawling on the ground, using a chain from his left hand aimed for Sasuke's forehead.

Karin stopped it again, this time stomping on it with her right foot. " _ **I repeat: never again…**_ "

Miraculously to Sasuke, Karin didn't collapse from being in contact with Jashin's _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ the way Suigetsu did. He thought that perhaps Kagemaru's mind was fighting Jashin from the inside, trying to protect his daughter, but he didn't give it much thought when the bulk of his attention was squarely on Karin herself, displaying power that he'd never seen before, especially coming from her.

Sasuke was consumed by awe watching Karin near-effortlessly dominate an opponent he himself lost to so utterly. The feeling was similar to when he saw Sakura activate her _Hundred Strengths Seal_ for the first time and demolished a large number of Ten-Tails Clones, but unlike that moment, he wasn't _lusting_ for this power. Nor did he _envy_ this power like when Naruto defeated Gaara in front of him. What Sasuke felt, it took a second for him to realize, was _pride_ ; he was _proud_ of Karin, proud that she was finally able to use the chains she failed to show him when they reunited on the beginning of this journey.

It came as no surprise to him, then, that he found himself smiling.

" _ **Never again will you hurt anyone important to me!**_ " Karin ran up to Jashin the Second and kicked him all the way across the island, his body falling into the water on the opposite side. When Sasuke heard the 'splash', Karin turned around and approached him, her hair falling back down into place and the glow vanishing.

"Karin… _**argh!**_ " Sasuke yelled as he tried to get up, the feeling in his legs returning. But he was unable to do so; his knee wounds were too great. Karin caught Sasuke as he fell from his attempt to stand.

Karin's attention was drawn to Sasuke's leg injuries. "Damn… Jashin took away some pieces of bone. I don't think my healing can mend an injury like that. The bone fragments will still be missing at the end of it… Let's get out of here and go to the Hidden Leaf with Sai's team. Granny Hokage, Sakura, and Kabuto are all better medics than me. They can treat you more completely… and maybe tell us how Suigetsu died… I can pick you up just like I did him…"

"Never mind _me._ What about _you?_ You used your chains… You _trounced_ Jashin… That was incredible. How did you _do_ it?"

"I don't know!" Karin confessed, Sasuke's eyes widening in surprise. "I placed Suigetsu's body on the ink bird and all of a sudden, I heard you scream. Then my body just… moved on its own… _idiot…_ "

Suddenly, Karin passed out from what Sasuke assumed was chakra exhaustion, falling face-up into his lap. Despite the chaotic situation he found himself in, watching Karin sleep relaxed part of Sasuke's mind. She went through hell to achieve it, but Karin was able to use her _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ again. The satisfaction of accomplishing a goal shone on Karin's face, and that satisfaction made Sasuke feel at peace as well, at least for the moment.

The peaceful moment, however, came to an abrupt end when Sasuke heard footsteps coming his way from the other side of the island, dread overcoming Sasuke's former content.

" _ **YES, THAT'S IT!**_ " Jashin the Second roared with frightening zeal. "So much _**POWER**_ behind those chains! In a package of unrivaled _**BEAUTY!**_ And a member of the _**KAGURA DYNASTY**_ as well! I knew it… I knew that girl was _**PERFECT**_ the moment I saw her… perfect to become _**MY NEXT VESSEL!**_ "

 _Next vessel? … Jashin's planning to… steal Karin's body?! No… I won't allow it!_ Sasuke thought as he tried his hardest to form Susano'o around himself and Karin, hoping to fly them next to Sai's ink bird.

But Susano'o petered out as soon as it formed.

 _Shit! With my legs mangled like this I can't sustain chakra for very long at all… The only jutsu I can use right now are ones with immediate payoff… Is there nothing I can do?! Karin's down, Suigetsu and Butsuma are dead, I can't stand up and my chakra control isn't good enough for Susano'o or anything needing two arms… Fuck!_

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by a squirming sensation at his upper back. Sasuke reached through his collar to just below his neck and pulled out the white slug he nearly forgot he had amidst the chaos. He looked at it for a brief second, then asserted himself and nodded. He placed the Katsuyu fragment on top of his head and focused his remaining chakra to combine with it.

"It's time, Katsuyu…" Sasuke whispered as he wiped the blood that came from his left eye when he used Amaterasu off his face with his thumb, and slammed his hand into the ground to his right, conjuring a human-sized puff of smoke. The first things Sasuke noticed emerging from it were two attributes he knew all too well:

Pink hair and a huge forehead.


	38. Chapter 37: Tipping the Scales

Sakura looked around to find herself on a small island surrounded by floating pieces of rock and metal of various sizes, with the centre of the island having a massive gap in it, as if something was ripped out. This wasn't Shikotsu Forest, so she knew the summoner had to be someone combining their chakra with a Katsuyu fragment, and the only one on her mind was the person she was hoping to see. She looked down to her left and found them: a young man with a Rinnegan in their left eye and no left arm. They were sitting down with jagged holes in their knees, and a red-headed woman was lying down in their lap. The Katsuyu fragment however, had disappeared, because Sakura knew that the piece she gave out only had enough chakra for one summon in the first place.

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked in confusion. "Your legs… and this island… and that woman! What's going on?!"

"Shh!" Sasuke motioned for Sakura to quiet down. "Sakura… There isn't much time, so do me a favour and look me in the right eye… I'll share with you all my relevant memories…"

Sakura complied and knelt down to meet Sasuke's eyes. Sasuke then used Genjutsu to relay to her everything important that happened since leaving on his journey, starting with Shin kidnapping Tamaki, then meeting Karin and Orochimaru, followed by his hunt for Orochimaru's loose consorts with Taka, taking him to the Land of Water, the Hidden Cloud Village, the Hidden Rain Village, the Hidden Sand Village, Shimeri Suna Estate and the remote island just south of it, and finally here, to Orochimaru's Southern Hideout, and most of the battles and conversations he had along the way, catching her up to speed. As expected of someone as book-smart as Sakura, she needed only a few seconds to process all the information she received at once.

"So that's what happened…" Sakura bit her lip and looked away as she whispered, at the same time healing Sasuke's knees. "But you picked an awful time to summon me…"

" _You_ told me only to summon you if I needed your help!" Sasuke retorted as quietly as he could.

"Not on your end, Sasuke-kun… on _mine._ Kiba told you I was away on a mission when Naruto informed Kakashi-Sensei about you and Karin passing out from using _Samsara of Heavenly Life…_ well it was an _S-Rank_ mission…"

" _S-Rank_ mission?"

"Yeah… You know how the Northern Hideout was destroyed during _Infinite Tsukiyomi_ to absorb Warushizen's chakra?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Something similar occurred in the Nara Clan Forest just outside the Hidden Leaf." Sakura continued. "Hidan was released from his burial site there when _Infinite Tsukiyomi_ came for _his_ chakra. When the Nara clan returned from the war to check on their deer, they found Hidan missing and a bunch of their deer killed. They sent out several teams to look for him and return him to his burial site, believing he massacred the Nara clan's deer, but found no trace of him until just a couple days ago, right before Lady Kurotsuchi's party. A civilian witnessed him killing someone in the Land of Hot Water and reported it to us. I was assigned as the fourth member of Ino's team and we went there to stop his killing spree."

"Slow down… who is this Hidan?"

"Hidan is an S-Class criminal from the Hidden Hot Water Village, a former member of Akatsuki… and a follower of _Jashinism._ "

Sakura's revelation stunned Sasuke speechless.

"That's why he was buried alive rather than killed; he was immortal because of Jashinism." The kunoichi continued. "Team Asuma was sent to deal with him since Shikamaru defeated him and buried him alive the first time around, in between the mission at Tenchi Bridge and our race to find Itachi... He saw Hidan murder Asuma-Sensei with _Jashin's Ceremonial Killing_ …"

"And he got his revenge… at least for the time being." Sasuke concluded, Sakura nodding in confirmation. "How ironic that I almost died the same way my namesake's grandson did… Wait a minute. If Hidan is an S-Class criminal from the Hidden Hot Water Village and a follower of Jashin, and Karin's mother was killed by a follower of Jashin in the Hidden Hot Water Village then…!"

Sakura solemnly looked at Karin. "I came to the same conclusion. There's a high probability that _Hidan killed Karin's mother_. She might have even been Hidan's _first victim_ , knowing it happened over eleven years ago…"

"Something doesn't add up. Karin was in the Hidden Leaf during the time Hidan was buried: just after I summoned the Hokages with Orochimaru's help during the war. She should have sensed Hidan then, but she didn't; she told me that she never sensed her mother's killer since the day she died."

"Karin didn't sense Warushizen when you went to the Northern Hideout, either. And they were both _underground_. Maybe the natural energy of the planet was masking their chakra signature from all forms of sensing that aren't Sage-enhanced, unlike _Infinite Tsukiyomi,_ which _was…_ "

"Yeah, that makes sense. So it's possible… The only way to know _for sure_ would be for Karin and Hidan to meet face-to-face though, and I'd rather that not happen if at all possible. Karin's suffered enough at the hands of Jashinism as it is. I don't want her to run into another Jashinist ever again…"

" _ **Another Jashinist**_ , you say?!" An excited voice echoed through the air, frightening Sasuke and Sakura both. Sasuke looked up, and Sakura stood up, to find Jashin the Second slowly walking up to them from a distance:

"So a follower _**exists**_ in this era! _**It has been decided**_ _ **!**_ After acquiring _**My Chosen Vessel**_ , I shall use her powers to track them down… and recruit them! Together we will forge _**a new world**_ , one where all nations on this planet are united… under _**God!**_ Chaos will be the knot that ties the order of the world together! _Such is the will of_ _ **LORD JASHIN!**_ "

Sakura raised her eyebrows and whispered to Sasuke again. "You told me he was Jashin Uzumaki _the Second_ , the 'god's' son… But the way he's acting now… it's far too arrogant to just be another follower, even if he was the first follower ever. Assuming and deciding the will of one's god… Hidan would consider that blasphemous."

 _Unless… we aren't dealing with_ _ **the Second**_ _at all..._ Sasuke thought.

The Uchiha's eyes widened and he quickly focused on Jashin, raising his voice. "So you've been playing the world for a fool for this whole time, huh, _**Jashin Uzumaki the First?!**_ "

Jashin started clapping as he continued his approach, startling Sasuke and Sakura both. "Oh my… _**you've found me out!**_ You're the first person who's _**ever**_ identified me correctly since I fled from the clan! I wasn't even _hiding_ when they saw me again, calling myself _**Jashin Uzumaki**_ and everything! But they were so sure I _couldn't_ be the same man since my chakra wasn't _quite_ identical… They thought they wasted the _Shinigami Mask_ on the wrong target… when they were right all along! Still, it was no surprise they got it mixed up, since they _were_ half-right when they believed I was my son."

"No way…" Sasuke flinched at the implication. "You stole _your own son's_ body…"

Sakura's eyes twitched. "You're can't be serious…"

"But the young Uchiha is right!" Jashin laughed. "While I might never be killed, I discovered that my body still _aged_ , however slowly given my bloodline, and to establish myself as a god I had to bypass that limitation… My solution was to simply abandon my old body and adopt a new, younger one… And to preserve my skills from one body to the next, I decided not to risk the procedure on a stranger; my new body would be a direct descendant of myself!"

"Did you even care about your son _**at all**_ beyond his genetic potential?!" Sakura yelled, her anger rising.

"What a silly question. _**Of course**_ I cared about my son! I wanted him to be _**happy**_ when he finally became a part of me. That's why I raised him to be the first believer of _The Way of Jashin_ ; he would see the ritual we performed together to fuse his body and my mind as the highest honour imaginable, and do it _**gladly.**_ And to further ensure his happiness, I never told him what happened to his mother, to prevent the heartbreak that would cause… If he ever found out his mother was bound and gagged by my own _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ the night he was conceived, he would have killed himself in grief before he could fulfil his life's purpose… All my son ever knew was that his mother offered herself to Lord Jashin in an act of noble sacrifice, and she was rewarded with a painless death the night he was born… and _**he couldn't have been more proud of her!**_ "

" _Yeah right…_ " Sakura shivered with rage, just barely maintaining her composure. "You say you made your son happy, but you were just _bribing him with affection_ so he fell in line with your wishes! And all the while hiding the fact you _**RAPED**_ his mother… and then _**MURDERED**_ her when she _outlived her usefulness_ , robbing him of his mother before he even got the chance to see her! You're the _worst parent I've ever met_ ; not even _**KAGUYA**_ was as bad as you!"

"You've been spoiled by peace, upstart! I can assure you that back in _**my**_ day, loveless marriages and parents sending their children to premature deaths were _**quite**_ common. I'm no worse than any other parent in that era. In fact, I may even be _**better**_ than some of them by your standards… A few risked their children's lives pitting them against adults as soon as they _learned how to walk_ … _**I**_ on the other hand, waited until my son's body was _**thirteen**_ , and I gave him the experience of a warrior older than _**fifty**_ , before sending my child into battle in any form. So from where I'm standing, I have committed _**no sin**_ raising my child the way I did!"

"No sin…" Sakura's fury reached a fever pitch, her wrath so encompassing she doubled back from shouting to silence. "So you see nothing wrong with what you're doing. You feel _no remorse whatsoever_ … I see how it is… Your brain might have become so corrupted from spending almost 120 years in isolation that you can't tell the difference between right and wrong anymore… But then you wouldn't have planned to steal your son's body in the first place… Maybe you were pressured by the depravity of the time… But then you would have changed your mind, raising your son away from civilization and thus not as effected by it yourself… No… you were _pure evil_ from the very beginning… I bet _you_ were the one who landed the killing blow on the Nine-Tails when your clan had the power to restrain it and save the town _non-lethally_ , because you just _couldn't help yourself_ , wanting to see such a grand and majestic creature die like a _rabid dog_ when it didn't need to…"

Sakura's rant made Jashin grow quiet as well.

"Sakura…" Sasuke looked up at her. "I can tell you're outraged and want to destroy this guy, but he can't be killed and immobilization tactics don't seem to work either, and he killed Suigetsu just by making light contact with his chains… What's your plan?"

"You weren't there, but a lone Jashinist is actually pretty easy to disable if you know what you're doing." Sakura smirked while taking a step forward, showing her back to Sasuke. "All you have to do is dismember them without giving them your blood, then scatter the pieces. They might live through anything, but they can't regrow or reattach missing limbs without help from an outside source, like a partner in your organization or a hungry tree wanting to make a White Zetsu out of you… And as for him killing me in one strike anywhere…"

Sakura started dashing toward Jashin before finishing her sentence. Jashin reacted by shooting several spinning chains at her, but Sakura elegantly dodged them all as she formed a knife with her right hand and swung at Jashin's neck with a back-handed slice:

"… Medical Ninja are trained to _never get hit_."

Jashin's head was cleanly severed from the rest of his body in tandem with Sakura's words. The headless Jashin was rendered motionless, and Sasuke stared in wonder and disbelief:

"That… was _**Kabuto**_ **'s** move…"

Sakura happily proceeded to remove Jashin's left arm with the same technique. "What can I say? He gave me a few pointers before I went out to face Hidan."

She next cut off the right arm. "I'm a huge bookworm, so grasping the theory was easy."

Sakura then sliced both legs away in one fell swoop, and caught the falling torso with her left hand. "And since I'm a skilled medic already, it wasn't too hard to pull it off in practice either!"

Sakura then tossed Jashin's torso behind her back next to Sasuke, letting all the limbs fall at once, and turned back around and joyfully jogged to Sasuke's side, a triumphant smile plastered all over her face. "And thanks to the super strength I learned from Lady Tsunade, _**my**_ version of the _Chakra Scalpel_ can tear limbs right off! Amazing, right?!"

"I'll say." Sasuke smiled once again. "Kabuto needs to be in _Sage Mode_ to pull off the same feat, and you can do it with no natural energy at all. You never fail to impress me, Sakura…" the Uchiha started blushing, "Your beauty shines its brightest when you're in the heat of battle, after all…"

"Umm… thank you, Sasuke-kun…" Sakura blushed in turn, but quickly regained her composure and pointed to Jashin's torso. "Now let's finish him off before Jashin's limbs inch their way over here."

"How do we do that?"

"We send the centrepiece somewhere _really far away_ , of course… preferably outside the continent!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "I've got an idea… I'll summon Aoda, have him eat the torso, and cancel the summon. Then Jashin will never be put back together, since the centre will be at Ryuchi Cave."

"Yeah, that will work!" Sakura pumped her arms in celebration. "Cha!"

"Rest in _pieces_ , you monster!" Sasuke shouted as he bit his thumb and slammed the ground behind him. In the space between Sasuke and Sai's ink bird, a puff of smoke appeared, and it revealed a great blue snake, the same one Sasuke summoned to take Jugo to his Sage training.

"What is your wish, Master Sasuke?" Aoda asked.

"I need you to do another escort mission. Take this dismembered torso to Ryuchi Cave."

Aoda complied with a nod of his serpentine head. "As you command."

Without moving from his spot, Aoda tilted his neck and let out his tongue, intent on wrapping Jashin's torso in it and swallowing the body part whole. In a few moments Aoda did so, and finally, after all the heartache and sacrifices, Sasuke thought that perhaps the battle with Jashin was over. That perhaps he could give Suigetsu a proper burial alongside Karin and inform Jugo and Chojuro about it. That perhaps he could go back to Orochimaru and shove his victory in the old snake's face and call him out on his involvement in Mangetsu's death in the process. That perhaps he could take Karin to the Hidden Whirlpool Village and train with the now former Raikage like he promised he would. That perhaps he could battle Lee and Kiba, who both wanted a match with him, and maybe settle things with Naruto as well. That perhaps he could help Sakura and Team Asuma with capturing Hidan, then show Karin the face of the man who killed her mother after it was done… That perhaps, he had finally _won._

But as quickly as his thoughts were dominated by the idea that the battle was over, Sasuke came to see that to his horror, the battle was only just beginning.

Sasuke saw the flaming cross at Jashin's back rotate again to an _**X**_ position, and moments later all four of Jashin's limbs started levitating with no support. Each one fired off a large, spinning, electrified chain, all of which struck Aoda's tongue simultaneously, releasing his hold on Jashin's torso.

"What the heck?!"

That was all Sakura could say after watching such an impossible feat clearly being performed right in front of her eyes. Sasuke couldn't say anything at all; he was too distracted by the big puff of blue smoke being absorbed into the cross from out of Aoda's tongue. The same thing happened to Suigetsu when he died, but this was on a larger scale to accommodate a larger organism. Recognizing this he, after a second of silent terror, let out a scream:

" _ **AODA!**_ "

As if on cue, Aoda collapsed like a rag doll, or a rabid snake that was unnecessarily put down, flattening the ink bird that would have allowed for an escape. Sasuke's grief blinded him to another tragic dilemma, however.

"No… _**NO!**_ " Sakura cried out as she saw Jashin's torso float over to his limbs, recombining into a whole headless body, with the head rising into place seconds later. All of Sakura's work in disabling Jashin was made meaningless by this man who defied the laws of physics and his own religion. The only evidence it ever happened was that the man's sleeves were now on the ground, cut off his robe.

Sakura's outburst caught Sasuke's attention and he turned his eyes away from Aoda's corpse to find the cross at Jashin's back return to its original position shortly after his body put itself back together.

"That was a nice little _warm-up_ , don't you think?" Jashin remarked, acting as if the entire exchange with Sakura didn't faze him in the least. "You want to go another round? Nothing will change, except for maybe another dead summon."

"The way your body moved… it was just like a _puppet!_ But how?! I don't see any strings or rods anywhere!"

Sakura's analysis swiftly changed Jashin's mood from mocking to cold bitterness and he crossed his arms. "Perhaps I underestimated you, _girl._ You've proven yourself a dangerous threat. You need to be eliminated here and now, along with the Uchiha. Rejoice, for you shall be freed from all that anger and confusion you must be feeling!"

Jashin immediately shot two spinning chains out of his now bare shoulders; one at Sakura, and one at Sasuke. They could both see the attacks coming and intended to take the blow for each other, and they performed the actions they planned on doing to accomplish that. Sakura jumped in the way of Sasuke's chain and Sasuke swapped Sakura with Aoda's corpse using his Rinnegan to take Sakura's chain in her place. The result was Aoda's body blocking only the chain meant for Sakura, Sakura jumping to a space _behind_ Sasuke, and the chain meant for Sasuke still on course.

"Sasuke-kun _**WHY?!**_ " Sakura cried in anguish, reeling in horror over Sasuke's impending fate. Sasuke simply responded by turning his head back to see Sakura with his right eye and smiling, his left eye having temporarily closed from Rinnegan overuse.

"Sorry, Sakura… Looks like there won't be a next time for us after all."

Sasuke pressed his index and middle fingers against his own forehead, then removed his hand to point at Sakura with both fingers, embracing death for the second day in a row.

 _You said my final thoughts should be with the one I love the most, right Jashin? Well they are… because the one I love is Sakura!_

Sasuke was prepared to go out, he truly was. Dying to save a Senju was an acceptable end, and so was dying for the sake of his love… but moments before Jashin's chain struck Sasuke's left temple, the chain was diverted off-course by what appeared to be a gust of wind, striking Aoda's corpse along with the chain intended for Sakura. Sasuke turned his head forward, feeling the air next to his skin, and there he saw a body he wasn't sure he recognized.

On the one hand, the body was huge, probably just over 200 centimetres tall, as well as having spiky orange hair and widened arms. Those were all things he saw before. On the other hand, the widened arms were now chalk-white and scaly, and the odd booster on the man's back had extended horizontally to form a pair of strange wings that didn't look like they flapped, also chalk-white and scaly. The man was also wearing the same pants that Kabuto wore underneath his cloak during the Fourth Ninja World War, though without the cloak so his wings could spread unheeded, which alerted Sasuke to the full truth of the man standing before him.

His mysterious saviour was Jugo, and Jugo had become a Snake Sage.

"Jugo… how are you here?!" Sasuke wondered in shock.

"I'm not sure myself, but I believe it's because of Aoda…" Jugo said, still facing Jashin, not looking back. "Our chakra was connected when you cancelled his summon the last time. And because of that, when you summoned him this time… I think _I came with him._ "

"Are you another _friend_ of the Uchiha's?" Jashin asked, irritated at even more cavalry arriving.

"Yes." Jugo stood determined. "My name is Jugo, and some call me _Jugo of the Scales_. That moniker once referred to how I would wildly change moods, from a gentle giant to a monster and back at the drop of a hat, like scales tipping. But now… it has a _new_ meaning, as you can plainly see." Jugo pointed to the white, scaly wings.

"So what? You're just another _snake_ here to annoy me!"

Suddenly, Jashin fired another spinning, lightning-charged chain, this time straight at Jugo.

"Watch out!" Sasuke shouted. "He can kill you just by touching you!"

Jugo said nothing in response as he stepped back and threw a punch straight at the chain. From where he was sitting, Sasuke could see just a hint of a grin on Jugo's face as the chain stopped in place and broke at the tip right before making contact with Jugo's fist.

Jashin gasped. " _ **What?!**_ "

"If you can kill me just by touching me, then I _won't let you touch me._ " Jugo remarked.

"That was just like… Naruto's _Sage Mode…_ " Sakura pointed out from behind Sasuke as she stood back up.

 _An invisible aura that extends Taijutsu reach… This Jugo is definitely a genuine Sage!_ The Kunoichi thought.

"Also, you're wrong about me being a _snake._ " Jugo told Jashin. "That used to be the name of my team, but now… I've spread my wings and become a _dragon_ **.** And as a _dragon_ , I will not let you defile my treasure!"

Jugo then used his wings to jet-propel himself and ram Jashin with both enlarged fists faster than he could react, knocking him back to the other side of the island. "I will protect Sasuke and all he cares about no matter what!"

Just turned around and came back to their position just as fast as he left it. Sasuke could see Jugo's face for the first time since he arrived, and noticed he now had the same purple eye markings as Orochimaru and Kabuto. He supposed that only made sense, but it would take some time for him to get used to those markings on skin that wasn't chalk-white; the only parts of Jugo's body that had that colour were the transformed ones.

Sakura bowed. "Thank you for saving us… Jugo."

"There is no time for thanks. We have to hurry and leave before that man recovers. I could tell that attack did not kill him..." Jugo sighed.

"He couldn't be killed anyway." Sasuke interjected, fatigue starting to envelop him. "But regardless, we should split up on our way out…"

"Split up?! Why, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

"Because Jashin's goals get divided… Right now, his immediate priorities are me and Karin … Karin alive, me dead. Splitting us up means he has to go for one while the other can find more information on him, how his techniques work… and what weaknesses he has."

"Then I'll take Suigetsu's body back to the Hidden Leaf with Sai's team to get Lady Tsunade to examine his body, along with Karin." Sakura suggested.

Sasuke gave Sakura a thumbs-up, and upon the display of permission the Leaf Kunoichi lifted the unconscious Karin off Sasuke's lap.

"And I will take Sasuke elsewhere to recover." Jugo added.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Where do you have in mind?"

"A very special place I've wanted to go ever since I heard about it… I felt its gargantuan chakra nearby."

Sasuke and Sakura lit up in comprehension.

"That's a good pit stop." Sasuke said as he was falling on his back, too tired to even sit up. " _He'll_ be able to help protect us if Jashin comes after me first… and once we're done there… we'll go to Orochimaru for more information."

"Orochimaru? But then that means you'll forfeit the game." Jugo objected.

Sasuke shook his head. "The time for games is _over_ , Jugo."

The Uchiha pointed at Suigetsu's body, which he could see covered in ink where the bird used to be, then to the sea, then to Aoda's body. "Three lives were lost to this menace already… and that was just today; the longer he goes unchecked, the more people will die at his hands… We need _more information_ if we hope to even stand a ghost of a chance… and the only one who knew of Jashin's existence before today was the one who sealed him here in the first place… That's Orochimaru…"

"Understood," Jugo said as he saluted to Sakura. "May we meet again."

"You too," Sakura replied as she began running to Suigetsu's body with Karin in her arms.

"Good luck, Sakura…" Sasuke managed to speak, his voice weakening from the wounds in his knees - still not fully healed and missing bone fragments- and his creeping chakra exhaustion. The last thing he witnessed before he lost consciousness was Jugo picking him up in a bear hug and soaring away at break-neck speeds.


	39. Chapter 38: The Waterfall of Truth

When Sasuke woke up, the sun was down and he was surrounded by forest on all sides with spires towering over the forest. He could also faintly hear the sound of waves underneath him. From what he could gather, Jugo managed to successfully bring him to Turtle Island. But there were two things that struck him as very bizarre with that scenario.

The first was that Jugo was nowhere to be seen. Knowing how devoted Jugo was, Sasuke thought something very bad must have happened for him to leave Sasuke's side, especially with his knee wounds. That's when Sasuke noticed the second oddity:

Sasuke didn't feel any pain in his knees. He looked down to find that his legs were also completely healed, bones and flesh restored as if he was never wounded in the first place. The only evidence it happened were the holes in his pants where Jashin's _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ drilled through him. Curious and excited, Sasuke tried standing up. He was able to do so without any trouble. Thrilled with his recovery, Sasuke took his experimenting to the next level and started making steps, walking in place, then around in a small circle.

 _I can walk again… This is incredible, but where's Jugo? Damn… It's too dark to see very far, and Karin isn't around to sense for him…_

Suddenly, Sasuke heard a voice approaching him from his right:

"Sasuke! You're up!" it shouted from behind the trees. Sasuke wasn't quite sure what to make of it; the tone of voice matched Jugo's exactly, but it wasn't anywhere near deep enough for him. He looked to the source of the voice and in a few seconds, when the source was right next to Sasuke, he figured out what it was.

Jugo had shrunk to child size. He was smaller, but the hair, eyes, skin, and Sage Mode were all clearly Jugo's.

"So I take it you gave me your flesh to restore my legs while I was asleep, Jugo?" Sasuke asked, Jugo nodding in confirmation. "What else happened while I was unconscious?"

"To start with, I healed you as soon as we arrived. Between that, my brief battle with Jashin, and flying you here, my Sage Mode ran out. But I felt like I could explode again, so I did this…" Jugo paused to sit down cross-legged with his fists joined just above his lap, "… and remained perfectly still as the natural energy hit its peak. I entered Sage Mode again instead of losing control. I suppose I should have expected such; this place has almost as much natural energy as Ryuchi Cave…" Jugo trailed off into silence.

"So you did it, Jugo. You can remain in control when you transform…" Sasuke replied with relief as he sat down in front of him and pat Jugo on the head. "I'm so proud of you."

Jugo blushed for a moment, but quickly shook his head. "I still have a long way to go. I can't gather natural energy fast enough to enter Sage Mode at will yet, and my transformation isn't perfect either… If it were, then the only change to my body would be the eye markings, but my arms and back still morph whether or not I want them to."

"Still, you can control yourself when you transform, and that's what you went to Ryuchi Cave to accomplish. You can go back to Ryuchi Cave and complete your training when we've defeated Jashin for good, but never forget that you have no obligation to do so obsessed with power will make you lose your way… you need only look at me to see that. So if you do complete your training, make sure that you only do it if it's something you personally _enjoy_ , alright?"

Jugo smiled. "Understood."

Sasuke released his hold on Jugo and looked him in the eyes. "So what happened next?"

"After re-entering Sage Mode, an armadillo suddenly attacked us. I dodged its attack with you in my arms, and then I apologized for trespassing on its home and explained that we meant no harm. I think that speaking to it made the armadillo like me… It led me to all the other animals on the island, and I became friends with the animals in the following hours. When I was finished I came back here to check on you."

Sasuke closed his eyes in contemplation. "I see. So you made friends with every animal on the island. I suppose only someone with your abilities could do it."

"Actually, that's not true."

Sasuke's eyes snapped open in shock.

"I'm the _second_ human who befriended all the animals here." Jugo said. "Though the animals did say I accomplished it _faster_ … It took the first _weeks_ when it took me less than a day…"

"Who's the first?"

Before Jugo could answer Sasuke, however, both of them were caught off guard by footsteps coming from behind Sasuke.

 _Human_ footsteps.

The two stood up and Sasuke turned around to face the footsteps, and they met the one face they expected to see, but were anxious of the encounter all the same:

"That would be me, the mighty Killer B, former Jinchuriki, of the great Gyuki! Fools ya fools!"

Sasuke shivered on reflex, partly because he developed a fear of the man ever since he defeated all of Taka at the Storm Cloud Ravine and fooled them into taking a mere tentacle to Akatsuki, and also partly because he couldn't stand the man's constant rapping.

"Yeah… the animals said so too." Jugo said. "I found it just as ridiculous as you did when I first heard it, but in hindsight, it's to be expected of a man who could synchronize perfectly with their Tailed Beast."

 _Now that you mention it Jugo, that does kind of make sense…_ Sasuke thought.

"Long time no see, Crazy-Eyes… Scaly!" B greeted while lifting both fists in the air. Sasuke noticed this was the same greeting Naruto gave him at the Hidden Sand Village, and responded the same way: bumping his fist on B's right hand. Jugo followed suit by bumping his own enlarged left fist on B's left.

Sasuke struggled to look B in the eye. "Sorry about trying to kidnap you last time…"

"We don't intend to intrude for long…" Jugo added, similarly apprehensive.

"Don't go wasting your tears on me! It was thanks to you I could go free! So for what you did I'm happy! Whee!"

"I think that's the fastest anyone's ever forgiven you, Sasuke." Jugo said. "Except maybe Naruto…"

Sasuke shook his head. "Naruto doesn't count. He never stopped believing in me and considering me his brother and friend despite everything I put him through. Not even Karin and Sakura had that much faith; their _love_ might have never wavered, but their _trust_ certainly did. Naruto never stopped trusting that I'd come back to my senses… he's unique in that regard. I bet if you asked Naruto why he forgave me, he's say something like 'I never gave up on Sasuke in the first place, so I never really _forgave_ him either!'"

B laughed. "You and Naruto… are like _me and my Bro_ , yo!"

"I can assure you, I'm more like your _bro_ than you…" Sasuke replied.

"Umm… it might not have been intentional on your part, but… you just _rhymed_ , Sasuke…"

Jugo's observation stunned Sasuke speechless. It also made B laugh harder:

"Not bad for your first try, small fry! The nostalgia… Tell you what, Imma bring you to the Falls of Truth, and then your doubts will go poof! You wanna?"

"Falls of Truth?" Sasuke and Jugo asked in unison.

"The main attraction, of Turtle Island…" B started to explain in his own way, being deliberately cryptic and maintaining his rhymes. "You sit in this special spot, and the water will reflect what's true but you say is not…"

Sasuke flinched. "So does that mean… I'll be able to see what I'm _lying to myself_ about if I meditate there?"

"That's right." B nodded. "Conquering the ' _inner me_ ', is a vital step for a master Jinchuriki… So far, those who prevailed number three… The first of course, is _Yours Truly_ … The second, Yugito Ni'i… The third is your _bro_ , Naruto Uzumaki…"

"Naruto… trained _here_ to control the Nine-Tails?" Sasuke's eyes widened, compelled to meet Naruto's feat and clear the Falls of Truth training, feeling like he was being challenged by his rival. "In that case, take me to the Falls of Truth as soon as possible."

"Hold on, Sasuke…" Jugo objected. "Remember what you told me just a few minutes ago? Being obsessed with power will make you lose your way. There's nothing that requires you to do this training right now. We can come back later when we've defeated Jashin."

Sasuke looked to the stars in recollection. "That's where you're wrong, Jugo. There's another reason I want to do this _now_ , beyond just my rivalry with Naruto egging me on. It's Karin. You weren't there, but at Shimeri Suna Estate she confessed that her lie-detecting doesn't work on lies that the subject believes are true, and during our conversation then, she came to the conclusion that I've been lying to myself about something: a lie that she couldn't pick up with her ability. I've been wondering just what I could be lying to myself about ever since… and now a solution has presented itself. I can shed light on all the doubts I have right now, and if I choose to walk away without those answers, it'll distract me from everything else going on. I won't be able to fight Jashin with everything I have… and I won't be able to talk to Karin with a straight face. I _owe it_ to Karin to find these answers now that I have the chance to get them. So please, Jugo, before we leave… I need to discover the full truth about myself."

"I understand…" Jugo nodded and smiled. "Do what you have to do. I'll keep watch if things go bad."

"Very well!" B interjected. "I will save you like the ring of a bell!"

[X-X-X]

In approximately fifteen minutes, B managed to lead Sasuke and Jugo to the Falls of Truth, a waterfall at the side of a mountain surrounded by thick forest. At the base of the waterfall was a small pond with an even smaller circular patch of grass in its centre. B pointed to that patch of grass as the place Sasuke needed to meditate to meet his 'inner self'. As instructed, Sasuke sat on the spot cross-legged with his hand on his lap and closed his eyes. To Jugo and B, that's what the following exchange looked like: Sasuke just sitting there. But to Sasuke, a flash of white light engulfed the darkness of his vision, and when the flash ended he saw the surrounding area once again. He looked back to Jugo and B for confirmation the meditation worked, but they disappeared. Then hearing the waterfall becoming louder, Sasuke refocused forward to find someone stepping out from the other side.

This individual looked like a mirror image of Sasuke. The Rinnegan was in his right eye and his Sharingan was in his left. Furthermore, his left arm was the one still on his body, and his right arm was gone. But there were other differences between Sasuke and this man, and those differences disturbed the Uchiha. His hair was longer, down to the middle of his back, and was a pale blue. The white behind his Sharingan was black. And most disturbing of all was the skin; it was a shade of putrid brown with purple lips and a black shuriken mark on his nose. Upon the sight of this man, Sasuke instinctively jumped back and grabbed his left shoulder.

" **Hello, Sasuke Uchiha… My name is** _ **also**_ **Sasuke Uchiha… But you're just an** _ **illusion**_ **… I'm the** _ **true**_ **Sasuke Uchiha.** "

The strange man introduced himself with a wicked grin and a chillingly sinister voice. Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if this is what he sounded like to everyone at the Five Kage Summit.

" _You're_ my true self?! But my Curse Mark is _gone!_ "

" **We might no longer have the Curse Mark, but we're still** _ **cursed**_ **, aren't we?** " Sasuke's darkness replied, too devilish for Sasuke to tell if he was being sarcastic. " **That's right,** _ **copy**_ **… we're still cursed… cursed by your** _ **hatred!**_ "

" _Hatred?!_ That's nonsense… I'm off the path of hatred…"

" **You don't honestly believe that,** _ **liar.**_ **Otherwise you wouldn't be such a** _ **stick in the mud**_ **even now… I would know, since I'm** _ **you**_ **after all.** "

"What do you mean?"

" **Take some of your own advice and** _ **think about it**_ **for a minute. You never took Karin to the Hidden Whirlpool Village… She wanted to give you a chance, to have fun with you, and you threw her request through the dirt like a** _ **worthless distraction**_ **. Then there's the Raikage… He forgave you, and was willing to show it by training you, and you refused** _ **that**_ **too, showing just how little you care about him. And then** _ **Shimeri Suna Estate**_ **… Karin and Suigetsu wanted you to enjoy yourself, but** _ **you never did**_ **, consuming yourself with playing** _ **peacekeeper**_ **at the cost of your own joy… Then you went ahead and unleashed** _ **Jashin**_ **into the world when Suigetsu already made it clear you could have stopped, and he got** _ **killed**_ **for it. And then you were so** _ **pathetic**_ **as to summon Sakura to clean up** _ **your**_ **mess! … And accepting death** _ **three times in two days?**_ **Only someone who was** _ **trying**_ **to get himself killed would be that** _ **suicidal**_ **. One of them was even in front of Sakura! Did you even consider how badly she would have taken it if Jugo didn't show up when he did?** _ **Of course**_ _ **not…**_ **just like you didn't even** _ **consider**_ **the possibility of just going home to the Hidden Leaf and settling down with her… getting married, starting a family, growing old together… None of that so much as** _ **bleeped on your radar**_ **when it seemed like you finally won… Then again, that might be for the best.** "

The rant slowly, but surely, made Sasuke angry. Every statement cut his soul like a hot knife through butter. The worst part of it, however, was that Sasuke couldn't refute anything the darkness threw at him; he knew that deep down, everything the darkness was saying was the truth. Despite the rising rage, Sasuke remained quiet through most of it, taking in everything the darkness said with the hopes that he could use the information to better understand himself. Unfortunately the final statement put a hamper on that plan; it struck a fatal nerve, and Sasuke couldn't help but respond:

"Excuse me?"

" **It's** _ **obvious**_ **, isn't it?** **Sakura… she's so** _ **strong**_ **, so** _ **kind**_ **, so** _ **beautiful**_ **… She's** _ **too good**_ **for scum like us. No, that's not quite right; people who break the rules are scum. We're** _ **even**_ _ **worse than scum**_ **. We abandoned our home, our friends, our teammates, everyone and everything who ever tried to help us, all for such petty things like power, revenge, and some twisted definition of Hokage… And now that you don't have the** _ **balls**_ **to sever bonds anymore, you're abandoning your life instead… for something as cheap as redemption. Hah…** _ **redeem**_ **ourselves… Monsters like us don't** _ **deserve**_ **redemption, and anyone selfish enough to pursue it in the first place is living in a** _ **fantasy world**_ **. You will** _ **never**_ **escape from your hatred, and no amount of apologizing is going to change that! So just give up now and end your suffering! The Falls of Truth are fast enough. You can drown under them. Go ahead… Close the curtain on the Uchiha clan with your own hand and reunite with your family in death… Leave Sakura a mourning would-be-widow and Karin a sister that never was. It's what you want from the bottom of your heart. I** _ **know**_ **it…** "

" ** _SHUT UP!_** "

Sasuke's fury erupted as he formed Susano'o, towering over the mountain, aiming to slice the darkness in two along with the whole waterfall. As he was bringing the blade down, however, black lightning surrounded the darkness' hand and with a single lightning-charged punch, Susano'o shattered like glass.

" **Here we go again… Resorting to violence the moment you learn an awful truth you can't comprehend. How did that work for you after learning about** _ **Itachi**_ **,** **huh?** **You must know by now that you can't defeat me… because you** _ **are**_ **me!** "

"I suppose you're right about that." Sasuke relented as he landed from Susano'o breaking, thinking about everything the darkness had told him.

 _Everything he's accused me of… I'm guilty… what do they all have in common? I know… Someone was expressing their gratitude or forgiveness of me, and I denied them that right. Looking back, that was very odd of me… I wanted the world to forgive me, but when it came time for the world to show those feelings, I said no… I didn't want to taste the fruits of my labour… Everything's coming together now… I didn't go on this journey to_ _ **redeem**_ _myself… I went on this journey to_ _ **punish**_ _myself, because I didn't agree with the Hidden Leaf pardoning me… I wanted to go to prison for life and die alone in my cell, and when Naruto and Kakashi made sure that couldn't happen I settled for a self-inflicted exile, living alone and away from home. The only reason I didn't revoke my pardon on purpose is because I didn't want to betray Team Seven's hopes any more… yet I've been doing it all along anyway without even realizing it… and now I know why._

Sasuke's monologue finished with him getting a second wind, and he faced his inner self with unflinching determination. This did not go unnoticed by the darkness, who did flinch, shocked by Sasuke's revelation:

" **You… what were you thinking just now?!** "

Sasuke smirked. "So, ' _other me_ '… In your bottomless wisdom, did you figure out _why_ we were still cursed?"

His other self couldn't find an answer; this time, _it_ was the one cut like butter.

"Well _I_ did… it's because there's _one person_ I still haven't forgiven yet. I've found it in my heart to forgive the entire world for everything that happened to me, Itachi, and the clan… except for one very important person. There is only _one person_ that I still _hate_ after all this time. Can you figure out who it is?"

The shadow of Sasuke shook his head.

"I had a feeling it'd be pretty slow for you, since I _am_ you, and I was never any good at self-reflection. I mean, I needed a _magic waterfall_ 's help just to learn it myself."

" **So who is it?!** "

"Do you even need to ask?"

Sasuke promptly poked his own doppelganger in the forehead.

" **That's how you told Suigetsu that Orochimaru's motive for killing Mangetsu was** _ **Suigetsu himself…**_ " Sasuke's inner self recalled, awestruck. The gesture then hit him like a mountain of bricks. " **You couldn't forgive yourself…** _ **Sasuke Uchiha…**_ **That's the one man you still hate…** "

"Exactly." Sasuke removed his hand from his hatred's forehead. "I couldn't accept anyone's forgiveness because I hated _myself_ too much. When Karin accused me of not allowing Taka to have fun, she was correct… about _me_ at least. I forced myself away from any and all sources of happiness, since I felt I didn't _deserve_ to be happy after everything I did. But by doing so I was turning a blind eye to everyone else's feelings, and in the process I hurt the people I wanted to protect, Sakura and Karin most of all… the two women most important to me. Taking responsibility for my actions is important, but to do so at the expense of my own happiness… that's not the right way to go about it. So, _Sasuke Uchiha…_ I'm sorry for hating you, and I promise to treat you better from now on."

Sasuke then moved his hand past his hatred's head, cupped it from behind, and gave himself a head-butt. The hatred immediately broke away from the hold and formed a Curse Mark Susano'o in his panic, firing an arrow filled with black lightning at Sasuke:

" _ **You?!**_ **Make yourself** _ **happy?**_ **As if! You're just a sad, lonely child who abandoned his home, with darkness as your only weapon! How can someone like you** _ **possibly**_ **achieve happiness?!** "

Sasuke responded to his hatred's question, and his attack, by punching the arrow with a fist full of sparkling blue light making the sound of one thousand chirping birds, the force destroying the arrow with ease.

The hatred gasped. " _ **CHIDORI?!**_ **But you lost your left arm!** "

Sasuke smirked as he pointed at the doppelganger. "Don't you remember? I'm _you._ So whatever _you_ can do, _**I**_ can do. By the way…"

He paused as he jumped back a step and took a deep breath, shooting out a large fire ball into the sky:

"Darkness might always be a part of me, but it _isn't_ my only weapon. I can wield _light_ as well. _**Two**_ lights, in fact!"

The reflection was set ablaze with bewilderment by the statement. " _ **Two**_ **lights?!** "

Sasuke shot another fireball into the sky, combining with his previous one to cause a warm stir in the air:

" _Fire_ , the light of ambition, igniting the wills of all who wish to move forward…"

Next, Sasuke raised his hand into the air and sent a single spark into the vortex of hot air he just created, instigating a storm:

"And _Lightning_ , the light of judgement, illuminating all the evils in the world…"

Then Sasuke quickly brought his hand down:

"I am in command of _**both!**_ "

The whole storm of lightning swiftly descended upon the mirror's Curse Mark Susano'o in the shape of a dragon's head. It vaporized the entire chakra construct and leaving no trace but Sasuke's mirror image itself, now an exact mirror image, the traits from the Curse Mark disappearing.

" **Yes…** _ **Kirin**_ **… It was invented to destroy Itachi… Who would ever think it would be used to destroy** _ **its own inventor?**_ **… How humiliating.** "

The replica tried to recover from Susano'o being destroyed, lying face-down on the patch of grass in front of the Falls of Truth. Sasuke walked on water to approach him and put his hand out for the replica to grab when he reached him:

"I can't destroy you. We both know that. So save yourself the eternal hubris and make yourself happy. Take my hand and follow me on that path. Because you _are_ me."

The replica smiled. " **That… sounds good.** "

The darkness took Sasuke's hand and helped himself up, turning into light in the process. The light proceeded to be assimilated into Sasuke's being, the man now a master of his own mind, aware of the full truth about himself and determined to change it.

At that moment, another flash of all-piercing light engulfed the area, and by reflex Sasuke closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was sitting on the patch of grass in front of the Falls of Truth. He looked back to find Jugo and B watching him; apparently his inner self was all in his head, and Jugo and B never actually left. Sasuke briefly thought that perhaps what he just experienced was how it was like for everyone trapped in _Infinite Tsukiyomi_ , being placed in a Genjutsu and facing one's innermost desires against their will. But Sasuke quickly dismissed that thought, since he _chose_ to face himself, and left the illusion _glad_ that he did so.

"Welcome back, Sasuke." Jugo said as he saw Sasuke look back.

Sasuke turned around and stood up wearing a calm smile. "Glad to _be_ back, Jugo." he replied as he walked to Jugo and B's location.

B got a good look at Sasuke's eyes and made a wide grin. "Clearing the Falls of Truth in one shot… I've never seen a man so hot! Now a record's been broken by both of you lot!"

"I finished the Falls of Truth training _the fastest_ , B? Even faster than Naruto?"

"Even Naruto needed two goes, Lil Bro!"

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk having bested his rival. _I guess that's something I can find enjoyment in… bragging that I cleared the Falls of Truth faster than Naruto._

The Uchiha raised his fist at B. "Anyway, it was fun meeting you again, B. But we need to get going. We're on a dangerous and timely mission, and we only stopped here so I could have a safe place to heal. And as you can see, now I've fully recovered, body _and_ mind."

"Actually…" Jugo interjected, "It occurred to me while you were training. In this small form, I can't carry you and fly at the same time."

Sasuke's jaw dropped.

"I need to take human flesh to return to my normal size, and the only human here is both alive and our friend. I can't in good conscience take Killer B's flesh…"

"I see, Jugo…" Sasuke replied, still incredulous. "It'll be a lot slower, but I can summon Odaka to get us off."

" **No need; If** _ **human**_ **flesh will make you old, then** _ **Tailed Beast**_ **flesh will make you** _ **gold.**_ " an inhumanly deep, but oddly friendly voice echoed from the sky.

The next moment, a huge shadow in the shape of an ox with octopus tentacles blotted out several stars. Sasuke and Jugo immediately came to the same conclusion: the Eight-Tails was nearby and talking to them.

B applauded. "Nice rhyme, Gyuki! You're almost on the same level as me! Whee!"

"Eight-Tails? You can give Jugo your flesh?" Sasuke asked.

" **I can, yes.** **Not only will your friend Jugo be returned to normal size, he will also receive a portion of my chakra to keep with him. He'll become like the Gold and Silver Brothers were: what you humans call a '** _ **pseudo-Jinchuriki**_ **'. Assuming, of course, that Jugo can survive absorbing it. Several Hidden Cloud ninja died trying to replicate their feat with me after Two Lights Valley was restricted… So do you think you're strong enough to handle my chakra and flesh, Jugo?** "

"I… believe so. My body is strong enough to handle Sage Mode, so I think I can handle a small fragment of a Tailed Beast's chakra as well. Let's do this."

"I believe in you, Jugo." Sasuke said.

The man in a boy's body walked up to Gyuki to acquire a piece of his flesh and chakra. Jugo placed his hands on one of Gyuki's tails and absorbed a tentacle, about his own current size. In a few seconds, Jugo grew back to his normal height, but as soon as he did, he collapsed and his Sage Mode ran out. Sasuke ran to Jugo's position and checked his vitals. Thankfully, Jugo still had a pulse.

"What's going on with Jugo?" Sasuke asked.

" **He's fighting the beast inside.** " Gyuki explained. " **Whether Jugo wakes up or not depends on if he can subdue the chakra he acquired with his own might. There's nothing you can do now but wait… and pray that your friend's strength rivals what the Gold and Silver Brothers once possessed.** "

Sasuke resolutely nodded. "If that's the case, then I won't leave until he wakes. Jugo _is_ strong enough to pull through this, and I will see his ordeal through to the end."

 _Just like you did for Karin and me yesterday, Suigetsu… I hope Karin's found her way to the Hidden Leaf by now and figured out how you died…_

* * *

(A/N): Hello, there! I know this one came out a little sooner than anticipated, but I'm happy to announce that for the month of December, chapters will be coming out more frequently. It will go back to once a week come new years, but until then chapters will be released once every three to four days. I hope you continue enjoying _Hawk's Final Hunt!_


	40. Chapter 39: Strong Women

Karin woke up to find herself on a bird made of ink with Suigetsu's body next to her, covered in ink. Still disoriented, she looked down to see nothing but an expanse of sea beneath her and gulped in anticipation, the shock jumping her to attention. She then looked to the bird's front and saw a young woman with pink hair sitting with her side to her, so she could look in front and behind Karin if the need arose. She recalled seeing her before, once, and the memory caused an explosion of feelings she couldn't quite comprehend all at once. The only thing she managed to do in response was call out a name:

"… Sakura?"

"Good. You're awake." Sakura tilted her head to face Karin. "You look older, but you're unmistakably Karin… Sasuke-kun showed me a lot of memories when he summoned me. So I already know about the _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ technique… Using your life force to cover Sasuke-kun's cost… That was rather clever. But count yourself lucky; Naruto helped Lady Chiyo revive Lord Kazekage after Shukaku's extraction with a similar technique but still couldn't prevent her death…" Sakura's eyes turned sour.

"I'm sorry…"

Sakura shook her head. "Don't be. Thanks to your ingenuity and some good luck, Sasuke-kun is still alive today. Without you there to help him he would _certainly_ be dead. So I'm _grateful_ _._ "

"… Thank you." Karin put her focus on Suigetsu. "Why is Suigetsu covered in ink?"

"Ah, that." Sakura looked behind the ink bird in the direction of the Southern Hideout. "Here's what happened at the hideout after you passed out."

[X-X-X]

Karin went over the events once more to gather her thoughts. "So Jugo's back… at the cost of Aoda's life… and he flew Sasuke to Turtle Island to escape Jashin. And you got Sai to make another bird of ink to escape Jashin too… And we're heading to the Hidden Leaf to get Granny Hokage to examine Suigetsu's body?"

Sakura nodded.

"Did the ink damage Suigetsu's body in any way?" Karin asked.

"Thankfully, no. I checked Suigetsu myself and no ink seems to have entered his body. Actually… nothing seems to be wrong with his body _at all_ _._ "

"But he has no chakra… I sensed the moment it disappeared!"

"Regardless of that… he's perfectly fine, physically anyway. But something terrible could have happened to Suigetsu's _mind_ _._ There was a time four years ago when Sasuke-kun suffered something similar."

"There was?"

"Yeah… After Lord Third died and the Chunin Exams were suspended, Itachi came back to the Hidden Leaf and used Tsukiyomi on Sasuke-kun. It put his mind through severe trauma to the point he couldn't respond to the outside world… but aside from grip marks on Sasuke-kun's left wrist and being kicked into a wall, he suffered no physical damage whatsoever."

Karin's eyes widened with excitement. "So Granny Hokage could bring Suigetsu back like she did Sasuke?!"

"There's a chance. Anyway, it's very strange… you call Lady Tsunade ' _Granny_ '…"

"What's so strange about that? She might look young most of the time, but I've seen her _true_ form; she's _**old as fuck!**_ And I didn't know it at first, but as Mito Uzumaki's granddaughter, she's _Kagura Dynasty_ like I am, so we're actually related by blood!"

 _No wonder her chakra was so goddamn distasteful… it was practically incest!_ Karin thought.

Sakura shook her head. "I don't mean that. I mean that _Naruto_ calls her Granny as well…"

"Sasuke _did_ say that my way of nicknaming resembles his… You know, during his speech about how I'm like his sis-"

"Sakura! We have trouble!" Sai interrupted, shouting from behind them on another ink bird, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino also on board. "Jashin! He… He's following us… flying!"

"I can feel him… he's approaching fast!" Karin said.

"Well slow him down, Sai!" Sakura commanded. "Jashin only hurt Suigetsu's mind, and your drawings don't have minds of their own! You can attack him unhindered!"

"I have to focus on flying us! _We'll_ slow down if I engage the enemy!"

Sakura bit her lip. "Darn…"

"I'll handle this battle." Shino said, but too quiet for Sakura and Karin to hear clearly.

Instead, they knew it was Shino because he stood up facing Jashin and raised his arms, letting out several insects:

"Go, insects… suck our enemy dry."

Countless small black bugs flew out of Shino's sleeves and surrounded Jashin, the quantity of bugs appearing like a single black mass encircling the self-purported god. "Unlike Obito Uchiha, you don't have a pocket dimension to escape to… This battle is over!"

Jashin and the insects remained motionless for a few seconds, everyone watching to see what the results of Shino's technique would be. Eventually someone broke the silence.

"Good news and bad news, guys." Karin said. "The good news is Jashin's energy is at the bare minimum to stay alive… he can't use any more jutsu! But the bad news is…" Karin's tone turned bitter as she watched the mass of insects fall alongside Jashin's body, "… the insects are all dead. It seems they couldn't handle the foreign energy…"

"I'm sorry, my insects…" Shino looked down, "… but at least your deaths were not in vain… Your sacrifice allowed for our escape… That is a death worthy of even the greatest nin-"

His mourning was cut off unceremoniously as a chain came straight out of Jashin's torso, violently shot upwards, and pierced Shino's left hand. The Aburame immediately fell backwards into Kiba's arms, and with the chain still lodged in Shino's hand, Jashin's body pulled itself along the chain, rapidly approaching Sai and Kiba.

"Shino…" Kiba's voice grew weak over his teammate's apparent demise.

"Shino … His chakra disappeared just like Suigetsu's did! But that shouldn't be possible… He can't use jutsu anymore!" Karin screamed as the sea beneath them shifted to forest; they had entered the Land of Fire from the south.

Sakura gasped. "It's like a puppet all over again. After Shino's insects absorbed most of Jashin's energy, that energy was rapidly replaced… like a puppet getting its strings reattached!"

"But Jashin's energy levels are still too low for jutsu! It wasn't replaced!"

"Maybe you just _can't sense_ the energy he received…"

"I can't sense it… then maybe it's related to that cross Sasuke saw at Jashin's back! I couldn't sense that either, but Sasuke could _see_ it! Yeah, that cross could be what Jashin uses to make himself move like a puppet!"

"There's no time for that!" Sai interjected. "Jashin's approaching us… what do we do?! We can't touch him without killing ourselves…"

Just then, right as Jashin was about to lay a hand on Kiba, a fanged mouth bit into Jashin's chain, severing his anchor and making him fall to the ground below. Moments later, the loyal companion slumped over top Shino's body, motionless.

" _ **AKAMARU!**_ "

Tears welled up in Kiba's eyes while he screamed, his best and longest friend having met his untimely death right in front of him. Sai, Sakura, and Karin remained silent for a moment as Kiba grieved.

Eventually, Sai spoke up, his own fear building despite his air of stoicism:

"We need to get lower… use the trees as cover. We might be able to shake him off and prevent any more deaths. Any objections?"

"None here." Sakura said. "We could land for a bit and I can summon Lady Katsuyu to send all the bodies away safely to Shikotsu Forest… Then I can call them when we arrive at the Hidden Leaf… Jugo came with Aoda when Sasuke-kun summoned him the second time. The same principle applies here."

"I don't object either." Karin added. "If we do it Sakura's way, we'll lighten our load and travel using only one bird. It will make us harder to spot and we'll get to the Hidden Leaf faster."

"I have no objections… but I do have one _condition_." Kiba growled. "For Sakura's plan to work, she'll need some time. Time to summon Katsuyu, time to stuff the bodies in her, time to cancel the summon, and time to get off the ink birds and back on… Someone has to make sure Jashin doesn't interfere. My condition… is that _**I'm**_ the one that does it. Let me be your guard dog."

"No way!" Sakura protested. "Your main method of combat is Taijutsu; you need to get in close to do any damage, and without Akamaru you aren't any good at it! And even if you use a Shadow Clone and combine with it to become a _Two-Headed Wolf_ to increase your range and power, you'll just be making yourself a bigger target! No matter what way you slice it, you'll just be throwing your life away!"

Kiba's face turned grim. "Even so… I'd rather be dead _with_ Akamaru than alive _without him._ Akamaru… sacrificed himself to protect me. The least I can do to make it up to him is pay his generosity forward. I'll gladly sacrifice myself to protect all of you."

Everyone went quiet.

"Okay, Kiba-kun…" Sai relented as he descended the ink birds. "Please keep us safe."

"Hey, Sakura… When you get back the Hidden Leaf, tell Naruto that I'm waiting for a rematch. A fart isn't going to save him in the Pure World."

Kiba smiled, showing his fangs as he jumped off the ink bird first and ran in the direction of Jashin's scent, making the hand seal for the Shadow Clone Jutsu. That was the last Karin, Sakura, or Sai saw of him.

[X-X-X]

Thanks to Kiba providing a distraction, Jashin was unable to interfere before Sakura stored Suigetsu's, Shino's, and Akamaru's bodies in Katsuyu as planned and she, Karin, and Sai finished the trip to the Hidden Leaf Village safely. Unfortunately, Karin confirmed Kiba's fall at Jashin's hands when she sensed his chakra disappear, and they were forced to leave his body behind on their way north. It also took the team until the following day to reach the Hidden Leaf, since Sai had to maintain cover in the forest rather than zoom ahead above it.

When they finally arrived, they made a beeline for the hospital, where Tsunade worked full-time now that she passed the title of Hokage on to Kakashi. Sakura, with Karin and Sai close behind, rushed through the hospital's front doors and slammed her hands on the reception desk.

"It's an emergency! I need Lady Tsunade and an ER immediately!" Sakura yelled at the top of her lungs, hurting the receptionist's ears. The receptionist had grey-blonde hair and swirl-pattern glasses. Sakura recognized her as Shiho, who helped Naruto and Shikamaru decipher Jiraiya's dying message before Pain attacked the village.

"Right this way please, Sakura-Senpai…" Shiho said as she left the reception desk and led the group to the nearest empty emergency room. "Just please keep your voice down. You'll disturb the patients…"

About half a minute after Shiho left Sakura, Karin, and Sai to return to the reception desk, Tsunade arrived in her usual attire, just with her green overcoat replaced with a white lab coat.

"What's the emergency, Sakura?" Tsunade asked, confused about the lack of bodies on the operating tables. Her confusion ended when Sakura bit her right thumb and carefully pressed it on the floor in front of her, conjuring a fragment of Katsuyu holding the bodies of Suigetsu, Shino, and Akamaru.

"We had to store the bodies somewhere safe until we got here." Sakura explained. "I did the best I could, but I think that only you can provide a full autopsy on them… So please do it. Lives are at stake!"

Tsunade rolled up her sleeves, picked out a pair of surgical gloves from her breast pocket, and put them on in preparation for the autopsies. "Relax, Sakura. I'll figure out just what exactly is going on with them. So sit down and be patient, all of you."

The next few minutes were anxious ones for Karin, Sakura, and Sai, sitting silently as Tsunade slowly worked over the two dead humans and the deceased dog, examining every nook and cranny of their bodies, inside and outside. When she was finished with all of them, Tsunade removed her gloves and turned around to face Sakura, Karin, and Sai with her autopsy:

"It seems the same thing happened to all of them: their spiritual energy was forcibly removed from their bodies. That's why their bodies are still _effectively alive_ , but they're incapable of thought and don't respond to anything."

"And why I sensed their chakra disappear…" Karin added. "Chakra is the combination of physical and spiritual energy. Without the latter, I can't sense the former at all. _Mixtures_ of energy are all the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique can sense…"

"How can it happen, though?" Sai asked. "How does one rip the spiritual energy out of someone? Is there even any precedent for it?"

"Yes, there is." Sakura said, stunning Sai. "Pain…or rather, _Nagato Uzumaki_ _ **.**_ He used the Rinnegan's Human Path to read people's minds in order to find out where Naruto was when he attacked us, and the victims lost their souls, even if the bodies remained uninjured. That's how… Shizune-Senpai died."

"Oh… I suppose I would not have known then. I was outside the village when Pain attacked… But how did you not make the autopsy yourself earlier, Sakura, in that case?"

"I never actually saw Shizune-Senpai when she was dead. I was busy fending off the Animal Path's giant summons and tending to the wounded around the village. Shizune-Senpai was in the morgue with Ino and her father the whole time, examining the body Lord Jiraiya delivered to us. I only heard about her passing from Lady Katsuyu."

"Anyway… is there a precedent for _the reverse?_ " Karin wondered. "Like… someone voluntarily ejecting their soul from their body?"

Sakura's eye twitched on reflex. "That's happened too. Ino… her clan… the Yamanaka clan are _famous_ for it. The Yamanaka clan use the _Mind Transfer Jutsu_ to shoot their minds out of their bodies to take control of other bodies until the target can force the Yamanaka out with their own mind, or they voluntarily release the technique. Until then, said Yamanaka can do things like attack the enemy's teammates, divert killing blows meant for their own teammates… or make the victim forfeit a _Chunin Exam preliminary match…_ "

"…Ino-chan did that on you, didn't she?" Sai nonchalantly remarked, Karin laughing at the insinuation.

Both of them promptly received a punch upside the head from Sakura, who was conveniently sitting in between them:

"She _failed!_ We _**TIED**_ that fight!"

"I get the tactless Sasuke clone, but why did you hit _**me?!**_ " Karin said as she adjusted her glasses, which were knocked out of place by Sakura's fist.

Sakura quickly swung around and pat Karin on the head with a wide smile plastered over her face. "I'm sorry Karin… force of habit. That one was for _Naruto_ ;" she said as her voice turned bitter, "I can tell that's who Sai got that Ino _-_ chan _**crap**_ from. Sai's even _worse_ than Naruto when it comes to understanding women!"

Sai tilted his head in confusion. "I thought using _-chan_ was just how men show their affection for women they are not intimate with yet… was I wrong?"

Sakura smacked herself in the forehead. " _Of course_ you were! It might work for _civilian_ girls, but for Kunoichi that want to be _**strong**_ like Ino and me, the _-chan_ label is an _**insult!**_ Calling someone _-chan_ is calling them _small and fragile_ , like they need to be _coddled._ Ino would react just as violently as I did if she heard you _belittling_ her strength like that!"

"But Naruto calls _you_ Sakura-chan all the time and you never punch him for it…"

"I only tolerate it from Naruto because he started using it on me back when he was an idiot desperate for attention in the Academy." Sakura stood up and crossed her arms. "That and he'd get the wrong impression if I told him to stop. You know what I mean by _that_ already."

Sai looked down, realizing what that would imply.

"But you can bet every hair on your head that I'd beat him senseless if he _ever_ used it on Hinata!" Sakura turned around to look Sai square in the eyes. "By _**not**_ calling her Hinata-chan, Naruto shows that he admires Hinata and respects her strength as a ninja. And after seeing their fights with Neji and them holding hands, that's how things _**should**_ be, Cha!"

"You know…" Karin interjected, "Hinata actually stopped using _-kun_ on Naruto at Shimeri Suna Estate. I was there."

"Is that so?" Sakura sat down and started pouting in response to the revelation. "I wish _Sasuke-kun and I_ were that close… I know he's changed and that he definitely likes me, but I still feel like there's this _wall_ between us… that there's a part of Sasuke-kun that doesn't want to be around me… That and I still don't even know Sasuke-kun all that well despite being his teammate for over four years and his classmate for four more…"

"Really?!" Karin asked in bewilderment, her expression turning bitter. "When we meet back up with Sasuke, I've got to give him a _**piece of my mind…**_ "

Sakura sighed. "Yeah, really. Like… I only _just found out_ why Sasuke-kun likes _**me**_ of all women in the first place. There are _plenty_ of prettier girls than me around that like him, and for the longest time I didn't know why Sasuke-kun bothered with me instead of them… but I finally figured out that Sasuke-kun isn't attracted to looks the way most people are. He's attracted to _power_ _,_ including in women. He told me that my 'beauty shines its brightest during the heat of battle'… so to him, my _fighting prowess_ is my most attractive quality. He likes me because I'm _strong._ And I only found that out yesterday even though I've known him for over eight years…"

"Like father like son, I suppose." Tsunade remarked.

"What do you mean by that, Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked. "Did Sasuke-kun's father fall in love with his mother because of her strength too?"

Tsunade nodded. "Let me ask everyone here a question: who do you think was the most attractive kind of person to most ninja during the Warring Clans Era?" Sai and Karin were at a loss, but Sakura knew the answer right away and raised her hand. "Yes, Sakura?"

"They were civilians! Since a ninja's body retains all its experiences through chakra, it makes their genes more likely to be dominant in a child. So, ninja always tried to marry civilians - _the_ _weakest and most inexperienced people available_ \- to increase the likelihood of their own clan's qualities being dominant in their children. This is why someone can marry outside their clan and still have their children be considered _pure-blooded_ ; most children born from that sort of pair will have _all their dominant genes_ coming from the right parent. Unfortunately, the frequency in ninja-civilian partnerships was also the reason many marriages were _unhappy_. The power dynamic was unequal by design; the ninja only cared for the civilians so they could produce ideal offspring, and the civilians, having no way to defend themselves from ninja, couldn't refuse a ninja's advances without getting hurt."

"And when did that trend stop among most ninja, Sakura?"

"With the marriage of your grandparents, Lady Tsunade: Lord Hashirama Senju and Lady Mito Uzumaki. That union sent a message throughout the entire Ninja World that love mattered more than ideal children."

"A message that came at the price of their descendants not inheriting Wood Style _**or**_ the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique… Hashirama and Mito interfered with each other's Kekkei Genkai from being passed down." Karin said. "That's why you don't have a family name, isn't it, Granny Hokage? You don't have enough Senju _**or**_ Uzumaki in you…"

Tsunade slowly nodded, confirming Karin's suspicions.

"Anyway, the Hidden Villages provided parents time to teach their children techniques, not having to rely on genetics to produce strong successors, so the world followed Lord Hashirama and Lady Mito's examples." Sakura continued. "After that, the practice of marrying civilians stopped for all but the most high-profile clans. For example, the previous generation of the Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, Aburame, Hyuga, and Inuzuka clans' heads all married civilians, but even then they looked for partners they enjoyed spending time with."

"So Ino-san's, Shikamaru-kun's, Choji-kun's, Shino-kun's, and Hinata-san's mothers, and Kiba-kun's father, are all civilians… I see…" Sai inferred.

"Are you saying Sasuke-kun's parents _didn't_ follow that example, Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked. "I thought the Uchiha were one of the most elite clans of the Hidden Leaf… That clan would definitely want to marry civilians…"

"Most of the Uchiha _did_ marry civilians. But Sasuke's father, Fugaku Uchiha, was different. Ever since he graduated from the Ninja Academy, his eyes were always focused one woman: the only one in his class who surpassed him in Genjutsu, and the one who tied at the top of his class with the future Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze… Mikoto Hikari. Who would become Sasuke's mother, Mikoto Uchiha."

Karin doubled back in bewilderment. "Sasuke's mom tied with the Fourth Hokage overall… and had a better Genjutsu score than a pure-blooded Uchiha?! Who went on to _lead the clan?!_ "

"Wow… Please go on, Lady Tsunade! How did Sasuke-kun's parents fall in love?!" Sakura asked.

"I'm not sure exactly, but I believe them becoming teammates helped. You know how there's a tradition to pair the top of the class with the dead-last, like what happened with Orochimaru and Jiraiya? The dead-last of Fugaku's year was Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki. Sarutobi-Sensei couldn't put both Minato and Mikoto on Kushina's team - it would have gone against the point of balancing the teams out - so he made a random draw and Mikoto was chosen as Kushina's partner. Fugaku was then chosen to round out the trio since he had a decent co-operation score, something both Kushina and Mikoto initially struggled with."

"So the formation of the team was the same as ours… Naruto was the dead-last of my year, and Sasuke-kun was tied at the top with Ino, who went to Team Ten instead to complete the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, leaving Naruto with Sasuke-kun… and me in the middle, since my co-operation score was good enough to compensate for both of them not doing well there… Who… who was their _teacher?!_ "

"Kushina Uzumaki, Fugaku Uchiha, and Mikoto Hikari… their team was named _Team White Fang_ , taught by _your_ teacher's father, Sakumo Hatake, the White Fang of the Hidden Leaf."

Tsunade's revelation completely shocked Sakura, and took Karin and Sai aback as well.

"I left the village shortly after the team's formation, but their exploits still reached my ears through word of mouth alone." The Fifth continued. "Through Lord Sakumo's tutelage, they all became splendid ninja in their own right. And they became Jonin at fairly early ages, each of them mastering a chakra element that Lord Sakumo had. Kushina learned Wind Style, something she wasn't even aware she had before training with him; Mikoto learned Lightning Style and frequently used it in her Shurikenjutsu while simultaneously becoming the greatest Genjutsu user of her generation; and Fugaku's Fire Style became so powerful that Sarutobi-Sensei was the only ninja alive who could rival the strength of his flames. They also all learned to value the lives of those important to them more than the rules, which ironically led to Fugaku developing a strong sense of justice and a desire to lead the Uchiha Police Force and drive out any corruption within it."

 _But not so ironically, it led to Fugaku and Mikoto plotting a coup d'état when it was clear their clan wasn't treated properly… and the White Fang and Kushina met their controversial ends. The fact that they were students of the honourable White Fang probably made it hard for the average citizen to believe they could be planning to commit mutiny, when in truth it makes an incredible amount of sense…_ Karin thought.

"So Naruto inherited Wind Style from his mother, and Sasuke inherited Fire from his father and Lightning from his mother…" Sai said.

"And Itachi inherited his mother's skill in Genjutsu." Karin added. "That's reflected in his and Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan… Itachi had a much stronger Tsukiyomi than Sasuke, but Sasuke has a much stronger Amaterasu, since he can put it out and control its shape with Kagutsuchi. Itachi fought more like his mother, while Sasuke fights more like his father."

"The looks are the other way around though." Tsunade replied. "Itachi looked more like Fugaku while Sasuke is the splitting image of Mikoto. At any rate, Fugaku eventually earned leadership of the Uchiha clan through his Fire Style and diplomacy skills, and married Mikoto, wanting _her_ skills to be passed on to _his_ children, in stark contrast to most of his clan, in a bid to make the next generation even stronger. It goes without saying his plan succeeded with flying colours; Sasuke and Itachi are some of the strongest ninja to have ever lived, Uchiha or otherwise."

"So ultimately, Sasuke-kun also inherited Lord Fugaku's _attraction to strong women_ , along with his Fire Style and sense of justice…" Sakura concluded. "Thank you, Lady Tsunade."

"Now that that's out of the way, we were talking about ejecting one's mind from their body?" Sai said impatiently with a humourless smile.

"Oh right…" Sakura took a moment to remind herself of their earlier discussion. "The Yamanaka can do it, but using the Mind Transfer Jutsu doesn't completely sever the physical and spiritual energy; some physical energy remains with the mind when it separates. Just a _tiny bit_ though, enough to _slowly_ return to the body if the shot misses its target and no more. Anyway, there's probably not enough physical energy for Karin to sense the mixture, and _certainly_ not enough to cast other jutsu while outside a body."

"That's why Dan invented the _Spirit Transformation_ technique, derived from the same principle as the Mind Transfer Jutsu." Tsunade added. "Both techniques involve voluntarily leaving the user's body, but the _Spirit Transformation_ technique uses _more_ physical energy, so Dan could move more freely outside his body and home into his target, do so at speeds the Yamanaka could only dream of matching, and if the need arose, use lesser Ninjutsu outside his body and even… transfer chakra to his target."

The last statement reminded Tsunade of when Dan did so to her during the war, and she hesitated before continuing.

"But the benefits come with a downside. Dan's _Spirit Transformation_ , unlike the Yamanaka clan's Mind Transfer Jutsu, is visible to the naked eye and can be sensed by most conventional sensing techniques, so sufficiently skilled ninja could dodge Dan's attempts to control them and attack his defenceless body. Of course, there's also the weakness shared by the Mind Transfer Jutsu, where any pain inflicted on a body that Dan was controlling would be inflicted equally on his original body when he returned to it."

Sakura's eyes widened. "So even a technique as incredible as Lord Dan's _Spirit Transformation_ has a weakness."

" _Every_ technique has a weakness, and anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves." A cold and calculating voice interjected from just outside the room. Everyone turned towards the doorway and found Kabuto was there.

"Kabuto? Your shift here doesn't start for another hour…" Tsunade said.

"I know… I was just reading at home when I sensed some very foul chakra approaching thanks to Karin's DNA. I cautiously approached it and met it outside the village, wondering what it was doing here. To my surprise, I met a pretty tall barefooted, redheaded man wearing sleeveless, tattered white robes and a dishevelled moustache. I assumed the man was homeless and offered my place to crash, thinking my sensing wasn't working right, but then the man says he's Kagemaru Uzumaki, and last he heard his daughter, _Karin Uzumaki_ , lived in the Hidden Leaf and wanted to meet her. But Lord Orochimaru never told me anything about Karin's heritage beyond her being a pure-blooded Uzumaki with a rare gift for sensing, and I couldn't tell if the man was lying or not, so I had no way of confirming his story… thus I sensed Karin's chakra and came slithering here as quickly as could. Karin… is that man I met your father?"

Kabuto looked over to Karin, who was shivering in fear, and Sakura and Sai were rendered speechless as well. "What, is it something I said?"

"Kabuto… Let me set you straight right now, since I'm sensing him now too…"

Through Karin's fear was a hint of anger and some sorrow, and her hair started to flare:

" _ **What you sensed was NOT chakra. That man is NOT my father. And no, I do NOT want to see him.**_ "


	41. Chapter 40: Jashin's Weakness

Jugo opened his eyes to see it was right around dawn. Sasuke and Killer B were sitting next to him, and the Eight-Tails was towering over them a little ways off. After them, the first thing he noticed was that he was out of Sage Mode. Knowing what happened the last time, he remained motionless for a few seconds and re-entered Sage Mode. Once the transformation was complete, Jugo sat up and sensed himself. He found his own chakra reserves had increased immensely:

"I feel… a lot stronger now."

"Welcome back, Jugo." Sasuke smiled.

"Glad to _be_ back, Sasuke." Jugo smiled back.

Sasuke's expression turned serious. "Can you fly us?"

"Even better. With my increased stamina from becoming a Jinchuriki, I bet we can get to our destination _without having to take a break._ "

"In that case…" Sasuke stood up and put his arm at his side, "… let's go."

Jugo stood up in turn and was about to bear hug Sasuke, when suddenly he was interrupted:

"Before you go, there's a _name_ you need to know!" B objected. "As a fellow Jinchuriki, I bequeath to you the name of the Eight-Tails: Gyuki!"

"You did say that name a few times…" Sasuke recalled.

"I suppose if I am using his power, I should also be using his name…" Jugo looked up to meet Gyuki in the eyes. "Alright… Gyuki, I will remember your name for as long as I live."

" **I will remember yours as well, Jugo.** **You may be needed elsewhere, but feel free to call this your home and return here if you like. As someone who befriended all the animals who live here, you have that** **right** **just like B. And to you, Sasuke … I have no hard feelings for what you put me and my fellow Tailed Beasts through… or B for that matter. In fact, I believe that given time, the Raikage might even come to accept you, and allow you to call this home as well.** "

"About that… For one thing, I already have a home I intend to return to. And for another… B's brother isn't the Raikage anymore."

B and Gyuki's jaws both dropped at Sasuke's revelation.

"Tell me it ain't so!" B started crying. "Gone, my bro? _**No!**_ "

Sasuke sighed and kneeled down, poking B's forehead. "Jumping to the same hasty conclusion… you really _are_ brothers. He isn't dead; he just passed his title down to a successor. Darui's been named the Fifth Raikage. Jugo and I were there when your brother announced it."

"Sorry for acting so uncool… as a mere right arm I can sometimes act quite the fool!" B said as his crying turned to laughter.

"Was that a genuine apology for his mistake or just an imitation of Darui?" Jugo stroked his chin.

Sasuke stood up and shrugged. "Maybe it's both. Anyway, we'll be going now. Goodbye, B … Gyuki."

Leaving B and Gyuki with those last words, Jugo hugged Sasuke and shot into the sky with his bizarre wings, leaving a trail of red smoke in his wake.

[X-X-X]

After leaving Turtle Island, Sasuke and Jugo headed for the Northeastern Land of Fire, where Orochimaru's new hideout was. By the time they reached it, it was afternoon. Knowing how the hideout worked, Sasuke and Jugo entered the hideout from the same entrance Orochimaru used to ambush Sasuke and Karin when they first discovered it so they couldn't be ambushed by going down the middle. To make sure he could fit through the hatch in the ground, Jugo manipulated the shape of his wings, pushing them inward on each other. The result looked like Jugo had a white backpack protruding from his body. The pair made their way through and walked down the stairs, through the hall at the bottom, and opened the door.

Orochimaru was at his study, writing something in a book Sasuke was too far away to see. "So did you win the game or lose?" he asked. "On second thought, don't tell me… I already know. You got far, but lost to _Twin Gods of Death_ , I take it?"

"Don't sell us _that_ short. We figured out _Twin Gods of Death_ 's name at least. Jashin Uzumaki. _The First._ " Sasuke replied.

Orochimaru fidgeted, then stood up and turned around to face the voice that startled him. He saw a taller Sasuke wearing different clothes and Jugo with purple markings around his eyes and white transformed parts… and Suigetsu and Karin were nowhere to be found.

"You must be confused, Orochimaru… a lot happened these last two weeks." Sasuke added.

"No, I think I have the gist of it… You and Karin-chan used _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ to revive Butsuma Senju without dying, but it made you get older… You sent Jugo to Ryuchi Cave after your encounter with Warushizen, and he returned having learned Sage Mode being able to control himself… Then Suigetsu was killed by Jashin and Karin-chan left you to get his body examined by Tsunade, the greatest medic in the world?"

Sasuke and Jugo were taken aback by the accuracy of Orochimaru's theory.

"The order of events is off, but otherwise you're spot on…" Sasuke said. "We met Warushizen before Butsuma, even before Yoshitsune… and Jugo came back _after_ Suigetsu died. Butsuma also came with me and Jashin killed him too… and Aoda… He lost his life to Jashin bringing Jugo back…"

Orochimaru frowned, upset but not at all surprised. "So Jashin even got a summon and the _Guest Star Party Member_ I left for you… I guess I only have myself to blame for all this. I've been a poor Dungeon Master; I pit you against an enemy you couldn't _possibly_ have won against without my help… Conflict isn't any _fun_ when one side has too much advantage, after all…"

"You're willing to help us, then?" Jugo interjected. "You'll tell us everything you know about Jashin, Orochimaru?"

"Tell you everything I know? Please. My help won't need to be _that_ extensive. Your journey. Your experiences in the war. Your past dealings with me… If you played the game _correctly_ , you should already have _all the information you need_ to learn how to defeat Jashin once and for all. You just need the proper obstacle to bounce your knowledge off of to connect the dots. That obstacle… is _me_. All this time I've been laying low, just a shadow behind your past opponents, not directly impacting the game… That time is over. Now I shall take _**centre stage**_ as your opponent in a battle of wits!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "A battle of wits? How does the battle work?"

"Excellent first question! We've already started playing!"

Sasuke and Jugo were both made speechless.

"When I said I wouldn't tell you everything, I meant it… in the sense that my information is _dependent on the questions you ask me._ " Orochimaru continued. "You ask me a question, and I will answer with the truth! The rest is for _you_ to figure out."

"Answer with the truth? How can we be so sure you aren't lying to us? Karin isn't here…" Jugo objected.

"That's not what he means, Jugo." Sasuke replied. "You weren't there, but when we first met Butsuma, I said that Orochimaru isn't the kind of person to tell a complete lie. I explained to him that Orochimaru really _did_ keep his promise to revive the first two Hokage, but he did so when Butsuma wasn't around to see it. Orochimaru _will_ tell us the truth… but _how much_ _of the truth he'll tell_ is something we need to sort out ourselves."

Orochimaru grinned. "Sasuke-kun is quite correct. Though I'm bound by the rules to add that you should have learned _not_ to rely on Karin-chan's lie-detecting ability so much and use your own intuition after meeting Fuzai, since the ability wouldn't work on him in the first place."

"That's my fault. I told Karin not to try detecting his lies when we interrogated him, since doing so would have made it obvious we suspected him and he'd try to fight back. But you're saying she couldn't do it _even if she tried to?_ How could that even work? Karin said the only lies that could escape her notice were ones the subject believes to be true, like Obito calling himself Madara… and ones that Jashin says, since he has energy different than chakra…"

"There's another way of defeating Karin-chan's lie-detector. By being in _such deep cover_ that lies become _standard practice_ for the subject, and their bodies get used to lying _in general_ to the point their chakra no longer becomes disturbed by _any_ lies said person may tell. I'm sure you can name _at least three_ examples, Sasuke-kun."

"Fuzai's the first, obviously. Then the second… Kabuto Yakushi, who had the same job Fuzai did for a long time and spent many years before that as a spy in various nations. And the third… is my brother, Itachi Uchiha."

Orochimaru nodded three times in agreement.

"At any rate, we need to ask a more relevant question to the task at hand." Jugo interjected. "How should we start, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Let's start with this. When we first fought Jashin, he could have killed me the same way he did Suigetsu: he pierced through both my knees with _Adamantine Sealing Chains_. But I didn't die then and there; Jashin wanted to use his ritual to kill me instead. Why did he bother with such an inefficient way of killing _me,_ Orochimaru?"

"Couldn't it just be that he wanted to feel the sensation of performing the ritual after 119 years in isolation?"

"No, that can't be everything." Sasuke shook his head. "That's what he _told_ me, but if that were the _only_ truth, he would have done it the first chance he got. That was _Butsuma_ , not me. But from what Jashin said and felt, I really _was_ the first intended victim in 119 years. So he killed Butsuma a different way. Probably the same way he killed Suigetsu. That's very strange… he had Butsuma alone, could have effortlessly subdued him, and he doesn't use _Jashin's Ceremonial Killing_ … That makes me think he would have _preferred_ to kill me in a simpler way… but he _couldn't_ for some reason. That's it: Jashin _couldn't_ kill me the same way he killed Suigetsu."

"Is Sasuke right about that?" Jugo asked.

"I think so."

 _Guess he won't tell much to such giveaway questions…_ Sasuke thought. "The next question is… what really happened to Suigetsu? His cause of death is what I asked Karin and Sakura to find out, but I need the information now if I hope to discern why Jashin didn't do the same thing to me."

"His soul was ripped out."

"That must have been the puff of smoke I saw travel through Jashin's chain and into the cross. I saw Aoda's soul being ripped out the same way, and it also went into the cross… Come to think of it, I saw the same stuff in the shape of a woman hugging Gaara from behind after we defeated Yoshitsune… Who… or what… was that woman?"

"I believe that would be Gaara's mother, Karura. When I stole the Fourth Kazekage's face after I killed him, I got a glimpse of his body's memories, and I saw Gaara's birth through his eyes. Karura promised to _always protect_ her incredibly small son, and to that end, I suppose she used the last of her strength to sever her mind from her dying body and possess the sand at Gaara's back, becoming the source of his _Automatic Sand Shield…_ "

"Is severing your mind from your body even possible?" Jugo asked.

"Of course it is." Sasuke answered. "The Yamanaka clan is famous for it."

"And Tsunade's lover Dan invented a technique that let him do it too." Orochimaru added.

"And Gaara's mother did something similar, apparently." Sasuke concluded. "My eyes are the proof."

 _Hold on a minute… my_ _ **eyes**_ _are the proof? Maybe that's literally true… Last week was the first time I saw Gaara since acquiring the Rinnegan, after all… And the Rinnegan was also the only thing that could see Madara's Limbo Clones… so the Rinnegan might be the reason only I could see that cross too!_

Sasuke finished his thoughts instinctively grabbing his forehead.

"What's the matter, Sasuke?" Jugo asked, leaning in to make sure he was alright.

"Nothing… I just figured out why I can see spirits that have left their bodies." Sasuke said as he smirked. "It's _**the Rinnegan**_ **.** The Rinnegan has the ability to see things _that belong in other dimensions,_ like spirits without bodies. They were designed for the _Pure World…_ We call it that in the first place because that's where spirits go when their bodies fail them and die. They become composed _purely_ of spiritual energy, as opposed to living things, _impure_ combinations of the physical and spiritual. That's where _Impure World Resurrection_ gets its name, right, Orochimaru?"

"Absolutely, my boy! You have me enthralled in your theory! Do keep going!"

"It's also why I was the only one who could see Madara's Limbo Clones; they existed in a very close pocket dimension that was connected directly to this world through Madara's Rinnegan. Madara and I were the only ones who could see the clones because they were in another dimension… and we both had _**Rinnegan.**_ And the clones could see into _this world_ too, again because of _**the Rinnegan**_. The ability to see beyond dimensional barriers… that's why the Rinnegan is the ultimate eye."

"That's all very enlightening, but how does it relate to Jashin?" Jugo asked.

"It relates…" Sasuke continued, "… because that's where Jashin's cross comes from: _another dimension._ But one that _isn't_ the Pure World; spirits are blue wisps or smoke, while the cross was composed of bluish white flames. It wasn't made of spiritual energy, but something only _similar_ to it. The cross comes from another dimension, one that's _like_ the Pure World, but distinctly _not_ the Pure World."

 _Karin's analysis of Jashin's energy sounded just like that… Maybe the substitute for spiritual energy is the same energy the cross is made from… That other dimension… could it be?! The Hokages couldn't be revived because they were stuck there, and not in the Pure World… Our understanding of_ _ **that being**_ _was all wrong from the start, if I'm right…_

Sasuke's epiphany widened his eyes to the point of pain without helping it.

"What are you thinking, Sasuke?" Jugo worriedly asked.

"I think I know the source of Jashin's powers, how he can perform what's supposedly impossible… and his only weakness. I just need to confirm one thing first."

Sasuke pointed at Orochimaru. "You. You've seen the Shinigami twice. Is its default position _cross-like?_ "

"Looking back, I suppose you could call its default position _cross-like_ , yes." Orochimaru smirked. "Why do you ask?"

"Because the dimension _inside the Shinigami_ is where Jashin is pulling his strings."

Jugo was flabbergasted at Sasuke's deduction, while Orochimaru was intrigued.

"But how is that possible? From my understanding, Jashin was _released_ from the Shinigami during the destruction of the Hidden Whirlpool Village." Jugo said.

"And Orochimaru always tells the truth. What's your point?" Sasuke asked rhetorically. "Jashin may have been released from the Shinigami, but not _all_ of him. A portion of him stayed behind to control his 'vessel' in the Impure World _like a puppet_ whenever he became immobilized or dismembered… all from the comfort of _another dimension._ "

"Then wouldn't I have released _the rest of him_ when we were in the Naka Shrine, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru objected.

"The man spent _a whole century_ inside the Shinigami, Orochimaru… more if I'm right. Who knows what happens to your mind if you stay in there for that long? At the very least, Jashin's own spiritual energy transformed into something _unnatural_ for any living thing on this planet… maybe something more like what the _Shinigami itself_ is composed of. He could have chosen to remain in the Shinigami to control his vessel when the need arose, and had the ability to resist your summon because his mind was more _Shinigami_ than human. And because he was more Shinigami than human, he could hijack his own release… by possessing the body of the one who donned the mask, just long enough to repel the Two-Tails' second Bijuudama and then steal Kagemaru's body. I have no idea why he'd need or want to steal another body after just taking over that one, but that's what happened."

"Everything you're saying does make a certain amount of sense…" Jugo admitted. "And that's also the reason Jashin didn't take your soul like he took Suigetsu's; he'd be exposing his weak spot if he did."

"Yeah… Jashin's weakness…" Sasuke poked himself in the forehead. "If someone who can seeinside the Shinigami's dimension winds up there, they can take Jashin out _from the inside_ , severely weakening his vessel and making him incapable of entering 'Puppet Mode'. Then he can be defeated in the Impure World just like any Jashinist. The moment I mentioned I could see the cross is the moment he prioritized killing me… because he figured I'd fit the bill of someone who could ruin his return like that."

"So in other words…" Orochimaru said, "We discovered the weakness to Jashin's techniques. And Jashin's weakness… is _you_ , Sasuke-kun."

At that moment, Orochimaru reached deep into one of his desk drawers and pulled out the _Shinigami Mask_ , which Sasuke could now notice had the same bluish white flames emanating from it as Jashin's cross. "I couldn't resist taking it with me as a valuable research material… Want to go back to the Naka Shrine so I can summon the Shinigami again and pull you in?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Don't bother; we'd be risking all of our lives. My mind would be forcibly separated from my body, so not only would I be dead, I might not even be able to fight Jashin since I'd have no physical energy with me to perform Ninjutsu. And you'd have to try to take Jugo's body just to survive yourself, Orochimaru. There's no way I'm letting that happen. Instead, I'll hunt down the point of connection between our dimension and the Shinigami's, and separate my mind from my body _willingly_ when I get there, so I can take some physical energy with me on my way in."

"The Shinigami's dimension is connected to ours?" Jugo said. "Are you sure, Sasuke?"

"It has to be. Otherwise Kamina Uzumaki never would have made contact with the Shinigami to begin with, and _that mask_ wouldn't have been made." Sasuke pointed at the mask in Orochimaru's hands. "The same energy's coming off that mask as Jashin's cross, so Kamina created the Shinigami Mask using some of the same _Shinigami energy_."

Sasuke started walking around in circles. "What I don't understand yet is _how_ Kamina managed to locate the Shinigami's dimension… and _where_ the point of connection is… I don't suppose you'll give me a hint, Orochimaru?"

"I already did." Orochimaru crossed his arms in impatience. "Right at the very beginning of the battle."

 _The very beginning of the battle… That was when he said we already had all the information we needed. To look back on the journey, the war, and Orochimaru's past… I see… The Limbo Clones again… I might have been the only one to see the Limbo Clones, but Naruto could_ _ **sense**_ _them with Six Paths Sage Mode. So that power can break through dimensions as well… But that's done through either having the chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts and a Sage Mode, or through becoming the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki. The Ten-Tails didn't effectively exist during Kamina's time, and the Nine-Tails was dead too… But regardless, without the Rinnegan or Six Paths Sage Mode Kamina found his way to the point of connection. Maybe it has to do with the Mind's Eye of the Kagura technique… Kamina was Kagura the First's son, so he had access to it… but Karin couldn't sense the cross. That technique alone isn't trans-dimensional… Alone… No way… I can't believe it… but it's the only thing it can be!_

Sasuke stopped his pacing as he came upon a revelation. "I know how Kamina found it. Kamina Uzumaki… was Asura's reincarnation before the First Hokage. Asura's chakra was all Kamina needed to suitably improve the Mind's Eye of the Kagura Technique to trans-dimensional levels. The technique is already the strongest sensing technique in ninja history second _only_ to Six Paths Sage Mode and by extension, Infinite Tsukiyomi. And given the name - _Mind's Eye_ of the Kagura - it's fairly obvious the technique uses primarily spiritual energy… it's a _Yin Style_ technique of the highest calibre. What happens when a master of _**Yin**_ Style acquires the extremely potent physical energy and _**Yang**_ Style of Asura Otsutsuki?"

Jugo's jaw dropped. "They become a user of Yin/Yang Style…"

"Exactly," Sasuke continued. "Kamina used Yin/Yang Style to rewrite reality, the reality of his own _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique in particular, to sense on the levels that _Six Paths Sage Mode_ could, without the need for the Tailed Beasts or a Sage Mode of his own. Put more eloquently, Kamina went _beyond the impossible._ Isn't that right, Orochimaru?"

"I'm not so sure… Kamina Uzumaki used the Shinigami Mask to seal Jashin in the Shinigami's dimension. Sealing like that comes at the cost of your own soul going to the Shinigami as well. If Kamina was Asura's reincarnation, and his soul was stuck in the Shinigami, then how was Lord First born in the first place? Solve that contradiction, and I might just believe you."

"That… I don't know. Maybe Kamina discussed his plan with the Shinigami inside his own dimension beforehand and they had an understanding, so the Shinigami deliberately avoided taking Kamina's soul?"

Jugo and Orochimaru were both silent, thinking the idea was too ridiculous to respond to.

"Just throwing it out there, guys…" Sasuke sighed. "Whatever the case, there's other evidence to Kamina being Asura's reincarnation, like the First Hokage's time of birth. It was one year after Kamina's death, according to Butsuma, and Naruto and I were born a year after Madara died. Asura and Indra wait for the current reincarnations to die before the next ones are born, reincarnating together… and it happens _one year_ after the second one dies. If Indra's reincarnation before Madara died before Kamina did, then everything checks out."

"You have a point there." Orochimaru conceded. "That contradiction I brought up is the only thing making me doubt you anyway… so for now, let's consider that hypothesis true and keep going from there."

"Sure… as for where that point of connection might be… I have a hunch." Sasuke said. "It's the Hidden Whirlpool Village, or at least somewhere on the same island."

"Why do you think that, Sasuke?" Jugo asked.

"It explains why the Uzumaki didn't move to the Hidden Leaf when it was first created. The Senju and Uzumaki were allies, and on top of that, the leader of the former was in love with a member of the ruling family of the latter. When the Senju made a truce with the Uchiha and started the Hidden Leaf Village, it was the obvious place for the Uzumaki to settle. But something kept them away; not just from the village, but the _whole country_. Perhaps it's because the point of connection was nearby and they needed to protect it from anyone who might want to use the Shinigami's power for themselves. What are your thoughts on the matter, Orochimaru?"

"My thoughts? I think it's a distinct possibility, I'll give you that. But what about the Naka Shrine? The Shinigami Mask only works _there…_ Maybe that's because the Naka Shrine is the point of connection."

"The Shinigami Mask wasn't always like that." Sasuke rebutted. "Kamina first used it to seal Jashin in the _Land of Rain,_ and then it was used to release Jashin in the _Hidden Whirlpool Village._ And then Jashin shattered it so no one could use it against him anymore… but a Leaf Ninja must have brought the mask shards back home with them, repaired the mask, then modified it with some kind of seal so it could only be used in front of the Naka Shrine."

"We know you went to the Hidden Whirlpool Village on the same day as Jashin's release." Jugo added. "Could that Leaf Ninja have been _you?_ "

Orochimaru shook his head. "It wasn't me. I _did_ see shards of a broken mask in a pool of blood, but I had no idea what those were until after my battle with Sarutobi-Sensei, when I began researching the Shinigami. And why would I make it so the mask would only work in a place that's Uchiha-exclusive anyway? That makes things _far_ too impractical for a career criminal like me, especially with an Uchiha being Chief of Police…"

 _That was my father… Father… he'd definitely want something as dangerous as the Shinigami Mask to be locked tight under his care, used only while a member of the force was present. But he wouldn't have known the inner workings of sealing jutsu well enough to modify the mask… That's Uzumaki clan territory… but only one Uzumaki was living in the Hidden Leaf Village during the Third Ninja World War… Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's mother. And Kushina would have desperately wanted to check things out… and was probably forced to either way to confirm the dead bodies. So…_

Sasuke's eyes lit in comprehension. " _Team White Fang._ My parents and Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki… They were sent on the mission to confirm the deaths of the Hidden Whirlpool's citizens, weren't they? And while they were there, Kushina saw the remains of the Shinigami Mask and repaired it in such a way that my father could properly restrict its use as Chief of Police… That's what happened, isn't it?"

"Mostly, yes… But there was one other person involved in that mission." Orochimaru said.

"Who was it?" Sasuke asked.

"Your _brother_ , of course."

Sasuke was rendered awestruck by Orochimaru's declaration.

"He was but a little toddler then, but your parents insisted Itachi come along." Orochimaru continued. "With the rest of the Uchiha clan conscripted to the front lines of the war, the only alternative was leaving him at the orphanage run by Nono Yakushi, but by then Danzo and I already drafted Kabuto into Root from there, and at such a young age too… They couldn't trust Danzo or me with their child after that. They believed they could ensure their son's safety more effectively by bringing him along, that they and Kushina could protect him. The White Fang's creed of valuing the right thing over following regulations pushed them on that route. Oh, your parents were _completely_ _right_ not to trust us, in hindsight… but they ended up hurting little Itachi themselves, with his first memory being _all those dead bodies_ and all."

Sasuke reflected on the final message Itachi left him. "They must have realized it… It's no wonder they let Big Brother kill them so easily, and even encouraged him to go through with it… They probably blamed themselves for how Itachi turned out, exposing him to the horrors of war like that…"

"I digress… The point is, Team White Fang found the Shinigami _Mask_ and altered it so the Uchiha could restrict it… but that wasn't the end! _**Oh no…**_ Your mother _insisted_ that Kushina develop a way to summon the Shinigami _without_ the mask! She thought that making the Shinigami Uchiha-exclusive would lead to the village thinking Kushina was playing favourites, sympathizing with the clan too much. That led to Kushina inventing the _Reaper Death Seal_ and teaching it to her husband Minato, the Fourth Hokage… who in turn taught it to Sarutobi-Sensei!"

"You must dislike my parents a lot… Father helped to drive you out of the village, and the jutsu that took away your arms was Mother's idea…"

Just then, Jugo fell to the floor in between Sasuke and Orochimaru, writhing in pain.

"What's wrong, Jugo?!" Sasuke asked with distress.

"It's… Gyuki…" Jugo barely managed to speak. "His chakra is being thrown out of whack… I think maybe Gyuki died…"

"But we just saw him earlier today! Gyuki was on Turtle Island with B. And neither of them can fly! They couldn't be what are causing this…"

"Then what is?"

"I can only think of one thing…" Sasuke's expression turned grim. " _Naruto._ The Nine-Tails is there in full, but he has a small piece of all the other Tailed Beasts' chakra as well to act as their meeting place… Maybe what's causing this is Naruto's soul being taken. Damn it, Naruto! How did Jashin defeat _**you**_ of all people?!"


	42. Chapter 41: Helmet and Weasel

Jashin had become impatient waiting for the white-skinned man with purple eye markings and glasses to confirm his next vessel's location, but he was also confused as to whether he resembled Orochimaru or Jugo more. But in either case, the purple markings around Jugo's eyes and the chalk-white skin might have been an indicator of Sage Mode, which was used to repel his chain. If that was so, the bespectacled man was dangerous and could protect Karin Uzumaki the Second from his grasp. In order to win his prized vessel, that man had to be eliminated. He began running in the direction he saw the man flee to.

"Where is my daughter?! Where is Karin?!" screamed Jashin using his guise of Kagemaru, hoping it could lure out either of his targets. Unfortunately for him, among the many villagers that quickly moved to surround him, none of them were who he was looking for.

"Intruder!" several of them shouted. Apparently he triggered some sort of alarm coming in, possibly tripping a sensing barrier with the evil properties of his Curse Energy. Regardless, the potential opponents he saw meant nothing to him; he could absorb all their souls in one fell swoop and keep going:

 _Intruder? Gods cannot be held to such mortal standards… The ones who are intruding are you, being in the way of my next vessel and Divine Right…_

Jashin threw out several chains in the air and twisted them together to form a makeshift flail, intent on swinging it around and hitting everyone surrounding him. The villagers threw several shuriken at the chains, but none did any damage. As the flail descended into his hands ready to swing, however, he felt a tug at his feet from underneath the ground and was promptly pulled into the earth, everything but his head buried. The next moment someone else climbed out from underground, standing next to the villagers. The first thing he noticed about this man was that they had spiky grey hair and a mask covering the lower half of their face.

"Lord Hokage!" some villagers shouted in glee upon seeing him.

"Relax everyone. It's all clear." the Hokage said as he motioned for the villagers to leave the area. They soon did so and the Hokage put his focus on Jashin:

"Now, I don't know if I can believe the claim that you're Karin Uzumaki's father, but I do know that as the Hokage, I can't let any intruders run free to destroy my village. If you calm down and tell us everything, we might co-operate with …"

Whatever the man was saying, Jashin could no longer hear him, for all his senses other than sight were being shut down. Despite knowing full well what this entailed and that he was about to be saved, it still annoyed him; his other half was taking control from inside the Shinigami's dimension. The cross of Shinigami Energy at his back had shifted to the _**X**_ position. That meant his other half was now in control… and due to him being in another dimension, he could not communicate with anyone while it was happening.

All Jashin could do was watch as his other self worked his magic by swiftly uprooting his body out from underneath the ground while the masked man's eyes reacted with shock. Several chains came out of Jashin's floating body aimed at the Hokage, who to Jashin's surprise managed to dodge them all with little trouble despite being caught off guard. The Hokage was very skilled; that much was indubitable. Rather than give control back over, however, Jashin's body started flying all over the village for any signs of Karin Uzumaki the Second or the white-skinned man, ignoring all the fire balls that hit him during his flight.

Eventually he found both his targets in the same room of a hospital through a window and he attempted to fly in, but he was knocked upward by something yellow beneath him and he fell on to the hospital's rooftop, the cross being knocked back to its original position. Jashin stood up to find a man seemingly composed of gold flames facing him with what appeared to be crosses for pupils.

"Just who the hell do you think you are, coming into my village and attacking Kakashi-Sensei like that, huh?!" the gold man vehemently asked.

"You… you touched it…" Jashin remarked, awestruck. "You're even more troublesome than that _Uchiha_ I fought yesterday. All _**he**_ could do was see it."

"Uchiha? You fought Sasuke?!"

"So you know him. Who are you?"

"The name's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki! Son of Kushina Uzumaki and the Fourth Hokage! It's time you gave me yours!"

"What a coincidence… I'm _**your uncle**_ , Kagemaru Uzumaki."

Naruto was visibly taken aback by Jashin's lie.

"Kushina was my _younger sister._ " Jashin continued."You know… _**I**_ could have been the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki after Lady Mito, but I was engaged to the Hidden Whirlpool Head Ninja's daughter at the time, Kagura Uzumaki the Second, and the Leaf didn't want to break us up. So they stole away my little sister instead…"

Naruto's surprise quickly turned to anger and he went to punch Jashin. He tried to dodge, but Naruto was too fast for him.

"What a load of crap!" Naruto shouted. "If you really were Mom's brother, your intentions wouldn't be so malicious! I can tell… you're planning to kill me, and you were about to do the same to someone in that hospital!"

Jashin's eye twitched as he recovered from the punch. "Sensing evil intent… I thought only the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique could do that… but Kushina wasn't a member…"

"I have Kurama, that's why! I don't get it myself, but for some reason I can tell when people are up to no good when I use Kurama's chakra!"

"I guess it doesn't really matter… you can't do a thing to defeat me anyway."

Jashin tried running past Naruto and into the hospital window where his targets were. Naruto was about to punch him down again, but a voice made him hesitate:

"Naruto, use Sage Mode!"

The one screaming was Sakura, who peeked her head out the window to yell up to him. "You could die if he touches you!"

"Oh… thanks Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned as he threw another punch, this one not directly connecting Jashin but still managing to hit him, the force sending him flying down the height of the hospital and deep underground.

Naruto then ran down the hospital's wall so he was next to Sakura. "Did Sasuke summon you to his fight with that guy?"

"Yeah… But even together we couldn't beat him. He can't be killed, and he's immune to all forms of immobilization… He escaped _Planetary Devastation_ after being caught in it point blank, he put himself back together after I cut him apart, and he can even somehow use Jutsu after Shino's bugs sucked him so low he only had the bare minimum for life. It's like he becomes a puppet whenever things go south, with no puppeteer in sight! And what's worse, he can completely split apart someone's mind from their body with any physical contact at all, be it from his hands or his _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ or whatever! He could take away your soul as easily as you could give me chakra!"

Naruto shivered. "That sounds really scary… Does this guy have _any weaknesses at all?!_ "

"That's what Sasuke's trying to find out." Sai interjected, also peeking his head out the window. "He left to consult Orochimaru for more information on him… He was sealed away in one of his hideouts until yesterday, so Orochimaru had to have known about him."

"That's just great… the fate of the village rests in _that snake's_ hands!" Naruto complained.

"It might not have to." another voice interjected. This one was Kabuto's. "Taking someone's entire soul from their body with a single touch? That sounds like the Shinigami's work."

"What are you saying, Kabuto?" Sakura asked, turning her head back into the hospital room.

"I'm saying that our enemy might function just like the Shinigami, so we can defeat him with a _Shinigami of our own_. I could summon Lord Fourth or Lord Third with _Impure World Resurrection_ and have one of them use the _Reaper Death Seal_ to give him a taste of his own medicine. I already collected the DNA and made the sacrifices before the war; I just couldn't summon them because their souls were stuck in the Shinigami in the first place. But now that they've been freed by Sasuke and Lord Orochimaru, there's nothing keeping me from summoning them…"

"Not a chance!" Naruto objected. "I'm not letting you put Dad's soul in jeopardy like that!"

"Same goes for Sarutobi-Sensei!" Tsunade added from inside the room, punching Kabuto in the right shoulder so hard his entire body sans-head melted via Suigetsu's DNA.

"Sorry… It was the only idea that came to mind…" Kabuto relented from his puddle.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Oh… I've got another one! You could summon Nagato instead! He could take souls too, without sealing his own away thanks to the Rinnegan… I'm sure he wouldn't mind helping me out for a few minutes..."

"That would take some time." Kabuto said. "Nagato's soul isn't in the Pure World… it's in whatever world victims of the Totsuka Blade are sent to. You remember how he was defeated in the war, don't you Naruto?"

"Oh yeah… Itachi sealed him away in that special sword of his. So his soul didn't meet Pervy Sage in the afterlife like Nagato said it would?!"

"If it was that simple, then I would have just summoned Nagato again instead of resorting to bringing out Madara. To summon Nagato again, I'd have to summon Itachi and have him release Nagato from the Totsuka Blade… Then I'd be able to do it… or I could just summon Itachi and have him use the Totsuka Blade on the enemy…"

Naruto stroked his chin. "Huh… wait a minute… Why haven't you freed Nagato _**ALREADY?!**_ "

"I was _on trial_ right after the war, until just two weeks ago when I was finally sentenced to a life time of community service at this very hospital, once that mission in the Hidden Rain was over… And those cuffs I was in disrupted my chakra flow something fierce. I _haven't had the chance_ to use any jutsu until recently, and that includes Impure World Resurrection."

"I get it." Karin added from inside the hospital. "Those cuffs… they were coated with Uzumaki chakra, weren't they? Like my lock pick was… And they were electrified so you couldn't liquefy and escape them with Suigetsu's DNA."

"That was it, yeah…" Kabuto said. "At any rate, I can defeat our enemy and release Nagato right here and now. Stand clear, everybody… and please forgive me, Sasuke… I'll be summoning Itachi Uchiha once again."

Now back to being fully solid, Kabuto slithered out the window and jumped to the ground next to the hole Naruto punched Jashin into. After making a few hand seals, Kabuto clapped his hands together:

" _ **Summoning: Impure World Resurrection!**_ "

On cue, a single wooden coffin rose from the ground in between Kabuto and the hole. The coffin's lid popped open, and out stepped a man with black hair, red robes, and the Sharingan in both eyes with cracks on his face.

"Kabuto… so you escaped Izanami." Itachi said.

"Yes, I did."

"If that's the case, then why have you summoned me again?"

"Look down that hole in front of you." Kabuto commanded. Without needing to be enforced, Itachi looked into the pit. "There's an extremely dangerous opponent at the bottom. We can't defeat him without severing his mind from his body… or sending him to another dimension."

"I see… You want me to use the Totsuka Blade to trap him the moment he climbs back up."

"And release Nagato!" Naruto and Karin shouted in unison from above them, Karin peeking her head out the window.

Itachi looked up to see them. "Naruto… How is Sasuke?"

"Don't worry about him!" Naruto smiled wide. "He's not in the village right now, but he's really changed for the better! You won't have to choose what to protect anymore… because Sasuke and the village are on the same side!"

Itachi closed his eyes and smiled hearing the news. _Thank you… You've been a better brother than I ever was…_

Itachi put his focus back down on the pit as he turned his eyes away from Naruto. "Let's do this… Susano'o!"

At that moment, both of Itachi's Sharingan transformed into Mangekyo Sharingan, and orange-red chakra surrounded him. But before Itachi's Susano'o could fully manifest he felt chains drill through his feet, and the next instant, Itachi's Susano'o petered out and his reanimated body scattered into the ash it once was.

Kabuto gulped. "No… His chains are long enough to attack from all the way down there?!"

Suddenly, Jashin's body followed along the length of the chain and floated far above Kabuto into the sky, to around the height of the hospital rooftop. Following that, Jashin sent out many chains that coiled and connected around the hospital and the surrounding area, forming a barrier. Jashin landed on the rooftop just next door to the hospital, still inside the barrier.

"No one enters or leaves here until I have _**My Chosen Vessel!**_ " Jashin demanded. "Anyone who interferes will suffer the same fate as the one who just perished!"

"Vessel… Who's that?" Naruto asked Sakura.

"Karin here. He wants to steal her body and take the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique for himself. He… already stole her father's body and is using it now…"

"So what the guy said about 'Uncle Kagemaru' could have been true?"

" _Uncle Kagemaru?_ " Karin interjected. "Your mom and my dad _were siblings?!_ "

"Looking at what he just did… I'm inclined to believe it." Naruto reluctantly admitted. "This barrier… it's just like the one Mom used to keep Kurama from attacking the village while she and Dad prepared his sealing, just smaller. If this bad guy gets the techniques and memories of the bodies he steals, then that body belonging to Uncle Kagemaru would make a whole lot of sense…"

"I'll… I'll be your vessel instead!"

Kabuto's offer shocked absolutely everyone into silence.

"I… I have Karin's DNA. If you want the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique, then you can get it _through me…_ And I have a lot more DNA where that came from! Suigetsu Hozuki's to liquefy… Kimimaro Kaguya's to manipulate bone structure… Imagine the possibilities! Shooting bones out of _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ coming out of water! That's the kind of destructive ability my body holds… and it can be yours! Just don't pursue Karin anymore…"

 _You're… telling the truth about that? Why?! My body isn't nearly as strong as yours, Kabuto… If we have to give up one body, I'd much rather it be mine…_ Karin thought.

"Hmm… Very well. Come up here." Jashin commanded. "Allow me to bind you with _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ and we'll be on our way out."

"Alright then…"

Kabuto walked over to Jashin's building slowly and methodically, ensuring a steady rhythm of steps, tension building for all parties. When Kabuto reached the base of Jashin's building, Jashin suddenly shot several electrified _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ around Kabuto encircling him, but to his bewilderment the chains did not make contact. While he was caught off guard, Kabuto slithered underneath the chains and up the wall, and cut Jashin in half with a Chakra Scalpel when he reached the top, slicing diagonally from the right shoulder down to the left hip. The bisection caused Jashin's energy to become unstable and holes started appearing in the barrier.

"I forgot to mention that I also happen to have mastered _Dragon Sage Mode,_ thanks to just a pinch of Jugo's DNA _…_ and that I have absolutely no intention of leaving my home." Kabuto looked back to the hospital. "Now, Karin! Run while you still have the chance!"

"You… you lied! How did I not pick it up?!"

"I've been undercover my whole life! Lying doesn't faze my chakra anymore! Now hurry and go!"

Frozen with panic, Karin couldn't move. Understanding Kabuto's plan, Naruto grabbed Karin with a chakra arm and leaped for the closest opening. Unfortunately, Jashin's top half flew into the air and within seconds, the holes in the barrier closed up… with Naruto's head in the middle of one of said holes. The moment Naruto's head and the barrier made contact, his appearance returned to normal and Karin sensed Naruto's chakra virtually disappear.

"You're not out of it yet!" Karin shouted as she raised her right sleeve with her left hand, then opened Naruto's mouth with the same hand and put her right arm up to his teeth:

"It'll make me sick doing it to a first cousin, but bite me. Come on, Naruto!"

Karin released Naruto's mouth and let gravity make it bite into her, and his body was almost immediately rejuvenated to its typical health. But to Karin's horror, he still wasn't waking up.

"Oh god… No…"

"Don't you realize what you've just done?!" Sakura shouted to Jashin as she jumped out the window, grinning triumphantly while Jashin's bottom half reunited with his top, still in the air. "Whatever Sasuke-kun can see, Naruto can sense and touch! You couldn't take Sasuke-kun's soul because you were afraid he could see your weakness, whatever it is! But the same applies to Naruto through Six Paths Sage Mode, and on a more dangerous scale, too! You just doomed yourself! Cha!"

"Six Paths _Sage Mode_ , you say?" Jashin started laughing as he landed next to Kabuto. "I guess I didn't have anything to worry about then… because natural energy _**doesn't exist**_ where he's going!"

"Natural energy doesn't exist?" Kabuto asked. "What do you mean?"

"I don't need to explain myself to a mere _snake._ All I will say is that I couldn't care less about your body even if you were being honest." Jashin looked straight at Karin. "There is only one vessel _**perfect**_ for me… and it isn't some pathetic _freak of nature_ that needs others' DNA to augment himself beyond mere mediocrity."

"Coming from a _body thief_ , isn't that just a tad hypocritical?"

"Gods cannot lower themselves to _mortal_ standards. Otherwise, we fail to accomplish our _divine_ responsibilities. Now get out of my way before I remove you from your 'home'… permanently."

"Don't bother with any more of your threats, Jashin… I'll go." Karin stood up and walked over to the building he and Kabuto were standing on. "Just don't attack anyone else in the village. I've seen you hurt too many people already… If it'll make you stop, then I'll gladly give up my body. I'm the one you want anyway…"

"Karin?! What are you saying?! If Jashin takes your body, then everything we've been working for, everything we've lost already… it'll all be for nothing!" Sakura objected, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Karin chuckled. "You always were an emotional one, even when we first met at the Five Kage Summit. It makes you forget things at the worst times. We're not alone, idiot… _Sasuke…_ I bet he's already found a way to defeat Jashin. The whole point to us splitting up was so that one team could discover his weakness while the other was pre-occupied. I have faith in Sasuke, and if you really love him like you say you do… then you should have faith in him too."

"Karin…"

Sakura was unable to respond further, lost in thought at her words.

"Time to go, _**my daughter!**_ " Jashin hopped down from the building and bound Karin head-to-toe in _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ , leaving only her eyes and mouth exposed. Once he was finished, he pulled her close and carried the bound Karin under his right arm as if he was carrying a sack of potatoes. Karin was facing upward, unable to avoid looking at Jashin's body no matter where she pointed her eyes… and to her terror, she was unable to close them either, the bonds on her face too tight.

"You're getting some perverted enjoyment out of this aren't you, you sick fuck…" Karin said, but to her surprise, she could not hear the words coming out of her mouth, or feel her tongue rolling as she said them. Nor could she smell the odour Jashin developed over the nineteen years in Orochimaru's Southern Hideout. And when she licked some chains after her words didn't make sounds to test if her tongue had some sort of problem, she could not taste anything. It then occurred to her that _these_ chains were designed to seal away her senses. All her senses but sight, the one sense Karin had no choice but to use, being forced on her at all times.

There was one more sense Karin had available, of course, though as she soon found out, she would rather have not had it.

"Oh my god… it's them!" Karin blurted out on instinct despite not being able to hear herself speak. "This chakra… it's the same one as that day… that same _**evil**_ chakra! They're 10 kilometres east of here with three people… and coming this way! … The Jashinist that killed Mom!"

"A follower's coming here?" Karin managed to read from Jashin's lips, which made her realize that while _she_ might not hear herself speak, _others_ still could.

"Yes… that shall be my first stop. I will need someone to stand guard while I perform the ritual to enter _**My Chosen Vessel**_ , after all."

Without any more words, Jashin dispelled the barrier and flew away from the Hidden Leaf to the east.

"Don't follow me or attack… _**WAIT FOR SASUKE!**_ "

Karin's scream reached the ears of everyone in the village but her own… and to her confusion, Jashin's, who didn't seem to react.


	43. Chapter 42: Seeker of the Truth

"If even Naruto-kun was taken by Jashin, then things must be going pretty badly for Karin-chan and the others at the Hidden Leaf…" Orochimaru said, their discussion continuing where it left off.

"What will we do now, Sasuke?" Jugo asked as he was starting to recover from the pain Gyuki's chakra put him through. "We could leave for the Hidden Leaf right now since we know Jashin's weakness. We need to tell Karin and Sakura about it."

"We will go to the Hidden Leaf… but not quite yet." Sasuke answered. "There's still something we need to learn from Orochimaru."

"And what would _that_ be, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru asked.

"How Jashin steals bodies, of course. Worst case scenario, Jashin's already abducted Karin and is preparing to take her body as we speak. In that event, we need to know how his technique works if we have any hope of stopping him. So Orochimaru, how does Jashin steal bodies?"

"He simply fuses his own mind with his target's body."

"You have to know more than that." Sasuke accused, his brows furrowing. "You were at the Hidden Whirlpool Village right after Jashin's release, and right after Jashin was released, he stole Kagemaru's body. You had a _front row seat_ to Jashin's body stealing technique, so you have to know it in detail. In fact … Am I correct in assuming Jashin's body stealing technique was the _direct inspiration_ for your own body stealing technique, Orochimaru?"

Orochimaru applauded. "Indeed you are, Sasuke-kun! Excellent deduction! I saw Jashin steal Kagemaru's body… and it gave me the solution I needed to escape my own mortality. It's too bad that information can't help you though; our techniques are _quite_ different."

"Yeah… they react differently with the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique. Jashin stole his son's body, and Kamina sensed a _different chakra signature_ coming from him compared to his original body. But in your case, Orochimaru, Karin's sensed you in three different bodies and they all gave off the _same chakra_. And _my_ chakra didn't change either when you were trapped in my body… Jashin makes his chakra different, while you keep yours the same. Why does that difference exist?"

"I believe it's because our agendas differed. I wanted access to _all techniques in the world…_ so I had to make sure my body was compatible with any technique I learned, even after I left it for another. You've experienced this first-hand, Sasuke-kun; our bodies _**and**_ minds merged together, and the one who was victorious in the battle inside became the dominant personality… That person would be the one who's chakra the outside world would sense, albeit they'd have access to every technique either individual had prior to the fusion."

 _That's why I could use your techniques when I defeated you inside our mind, at least until Big Brother removed that part of you from me with the Totsuka Blade, and why I saw the other bodies you took before mine in our mind… they were also merged with yours from the previous fusions…_ Sasuke thought.

"Jashin, on the other hand…" Orochimaru continued. "Well… allow me to answer your question with another question: what do you think happened to the Uzumaki clan after Kamina sealed Jashin's soul in the Shinigami?"

"The Uzumaki were convinced that wasn't actually Jashin, but his son, so…" Sasuke's eyes lit upon the revelation. "They would have tried to find Jashin himself… but he _didn't exist anymore._ Jashin made the Uzumaki search for any signs of the _Curse Energy_ he and his son shared, in the hopes of finding the originator… who couldn't be found."

"So Jashin managed to disappear from the world _,_ " Jugo added, "making himself look like a god to his followers and making the Uzumaki _go to war_ _with them_ at the same time."

"Are you saying that was Jashin's intention from the start, Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked. "That Jashin _planned_ to be sealed away in the Shinigami to start a war between his cult and his clan? And in order to do so, he defeated the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique by taking his son's body and altering his chakra?"

"That's the conclusion I've come to, anyway."

"But that doesn't make sense." Jugo objected. "Jashin couldn't have planned that without _knowing beforehand_ that Kamina found the Shinigami and could seal him away… And once he was in there, he had no way of guaranteeing he would ever be freed. He'd need an _accomplice._ One who'd be alive a century after the time of his sealing, and one who'd have some way of knowing Kamina found the Shinigami."

 _But you're wrong, Jugo… Someone like that definitely existed… someone with a motive for helping Jashin out exactly as he did, even…_

When Sasuke's thoughts finished, he dropped the one name that came to mind:

"Black Zetsu."

Jugo's jaw dropped and Orochimaru raised an eyebrow.

"He was Jashin's accomplice." Sasuke said. "He had the ability to know who Asura's and Indra's reincarnations were, and tried incessantly to get one of Indra's to awaken the Rinnegan and summon the _Gedo Mazo_ from the moon, until finally succeeding with Madara. But if Indra's reincarnation _before_ Madara died before acquiring it, what would he do? Your thoughts, Orochimaru?"

"He'd want to kill Asura's reincarnation as soon as possible so another pair could be born. Ah… more support for your theory that Kamina was Asura's reincarnation."

"Precisely. Black Zetsu would have known Kamina was Asura's reincarnation and figured he'd find some alternate dimension to send Jashin into to combat his immortality. He'd have been the one to tell Jashin about it, and about the technique's drawbacks… and he'd let Jashin send himself into the Shinigami at the cost of Kamina's life, allowing Jashin to become a 'god'. He removes a witness and kills Asura's reincarnation in one go. Two birds with one stone, as it were… And Black Zetsu finally set things up to release Jashin when he succeeded in acquiring a Rinnegan and the _Gedo Mazo_ and needed someone to pretend to be Madara after the latter's death and collect the Tailed Beasts for the Ten-Tails' revival."

"The Hidden Whirlpool Village's destruction, you mean." Orochimaru inferred.

Sasuke nodded. "Yes. It must have happened _right after_ the Battle of Kannabi Bridge. After that battle, Black Zetsu knew he had a successor for Madara in Obito and set things up to win him over. He did that starting with the Hidden Whirlpool Village's destruction, getting the Two-Tails to destroy the Six-Tails and cripple the Three-Tails, leading to the Three-Tails being stuffed in Rin Nohara, a requirement for his plan to recruit Obito. This also led to the Uzumaki releasing Jashin in their desperation, and it explains why Obito waited so long to collect the Tailed Beasts before ordering Akatsuki through Nagato to do just that."

"He needed to wait for the Six-Tails to be revived." Orochimaru said.

"But why would Black Zetsu intentionally slow down the Moon Eye Plan?" Jugo asked.

"He probably wanted someone to take care of Jashin." Sasuke answered. "Jashin was a threat to the Moon Eye Plan, since he knew of Black Zetsu's existence and he had motive to kill Nagato - the leader of Akatsuki and intended sacrifice to revive Madara - because he had the Rinnegan and could have seen the cross at Jashin's back, let alone being a member of the Kagura Dynasty. You running into Jashin and sealing him up was an accident that just so happened to work in Black Zetsu's favour… That reminds me… why was Karin's blood needed to release Jashin from his secret cell in the Southern Hideout?"

"I don't know if Karin was the _only_ person who could have unlocked that seal, at least at the time I placed it there." Orochimaru explained, puzzling Sasuke. "I actually saw several seal tags of identical design spread out in a circle in the Hidden Whirlpool Village on the day I went there, and a barrier of some kind connecting all those tags. I don't know what that barrier's purpose was, but I did see that someone tried to unseal that barrier with a drop of blood on one of the seal tags and _failed…_ Jashin himself actually, in Kagemaru's body. This led me to think that only the blood of the Kagura Dynasty, still void of any impurities from other clans, could dispel whatever was sealed by those tags, since a pure-blooded Uzumaki's blood couldn't do it. Pure-blooded members of the Kagura Dynasty… There were two alive at the time I copied the seal tags I saw at the Hidden Whirlpool Village and placed down my own copy for a different purpose, with a third on the way…"

"Kagura the Second, who was pregnant with Karin… and Nagato." Sasuke deduced. "They were the only ones who could have released Jashin at the time you made the seal. And Jashin had no way of knowing Nagato was capable of doing it, so it makes sense he'd think the seal could only have been removed by Kagemaru's wife and child. I came to the conclusion the seal being designed to lure Karin in was his idea rather than yours… Was I right or wrong about that?"

"Before I answer that, I have to correct you on something… Jashin did _indeed_ know Nagato was capable of breaking the seal… or at least, that there could have been another aside from Kagura the Second and Karin-chan that could. You see, Kagura the Second's mother had a twin sister… Fuso Uzumaki. She led the mission to _purge all Jashinists from the world_ after the Hot Water Daimyo outlawed it following the First Ninja World War. That much Jashin acquired from Kagemaru's memories, and told me about it when I encountered him that fateful day in the Hidden Whirlpool Village."

"Fuso Uzumaki… Why did Jashin tell you about her, Orochimaru?" Jugo asked.

"That relates to whose idea it was to seal Jashin the way I did… When Jashin noticed me after he tried to break the seal, he pretended he was Kagemaru fighting for control, claiming Jashin the Second possessed his body to destroy the country. But I knew better and witnessed his body stealing jutsu - which he called the _Jashin Succession Technique_ \- so I called him out on his lie and threatened to expose his identity and the fact he destroyed the Land of Whirlpools if he didn't co-operate with me… He turned my own blackmailing scheme against me by claiming he _didn't care_ if the world learned he destroyed the Land of Whirlpools, and threatened to send me to where he was trapped for one hundred years if I didn't do as he instructed: seal him away somewhere that only Kagemaru's wife and child could access."

 _So that's why Jashin felt compelled to take Kagemaru's body in particular… He must have learned about Kagemaru's relation to the Kagura Dynasty from the memories of his previous host._ Sasuke thought.

"I assumed that seal tag would have done the trick and made my own copy of it, but Jashin told me that alone wouldn't work." Orochimaru continued. "Fuso and any possible descendants of hers could have also broken that seal tag… and he demanded I kill them all, or else he would break out of wherever he was being held and expose that I hid the culprit of the Hidden Whirlpool Village's destruction."

"And to save those _valuable research specimens,_ you lied and said Fuso and all her descendants had already died. Am I right?" Sasuke asked.

"Wrong, actually. I asked for more information about Fuso since it would have been easier to kill her and any descendants if I knew where Fuso was last seen. As it turns out, Fuso managed to sense and defeat every Jashinist in the Land of Hot Water, and she threw their bodies bound by _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ into the ocean. Then she announced her intention to move to the _Land of Rain_ after the mission's completion just in case a Jashinist appeared there, since being the site of Kamina sealing away 'Jashin the Second' made it the second most likely spot for another Jashinist to resurface, and the Land of Hot Water and Land of Whirlpools were fairly close already."

"Land of Rain… That's it, then. You knew Nagato was an Uzumaki from the Land of Rain when you met him, Yahiko, and Konan shortly after your battle with Hanzo alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade, and came to the same conclusion I just did when Jashin told you Fuso moved to the Land of Rain: Nagato was Fuso's son and could break the seal if he ever found out. … No way… So that's why…"

"That's why… what?" Jugo interjected.

"That's why Danzo assisted Hanzo in his attempted massacre of the Original Akatsuki and why Nagato was attacked even after Yahiko killed himself on Nagato's kunai, _yes…_ " Orochimaru chuckled. "I revealed to Jashin that Fuso was dead, but her son was still alive, and I promised to try killing him. But instead of dirtying my hands by doing it myself, I told Danzo about it, and how much of a _threat to the village_ Jashin would be if he were released… Danzo did the rest himself, getting in contact with Hanzo and planning out a means to kill all three leaders of Akatsuki in one go."

"Then I was wrong a few minutes ago… you encountering Jashin _wasn't_ an accident." Sasuke said. "Black Zetsu used Jashin, through you and Danzo, as a means to fill Nagato with despair, power up his Rinnegan, and tempt him to join Obito's cause via Yahiko's death. But if Danzo knew about Jashin the whole time, then… wouldn't he have tried to kill Kagura the Second as well?! Kushina and my parents would have reported back that she managed to escape!"

"I didn't want the Kagura Dynasty to die out _completely_ , so I told Danzo that I killed Kagura the Second on my way back to get him off her and Karin-chan's back. Unfortunately, that ruse fell apart when Karin-chan - the splitting image of Kagura the Second minus half her hair and needing glasses - made her appearance in a Chunin Exam held in the Hidden Leaf Village. Had she remained in the Hidden Hot Water Village like a _good girl_ , she'd have entered Hidden _Cloud_ Chunin Exams instead, and I wouldn't have had to go to such lengths to protect her…"

Sasuke gasped. "So not only did you infiltrate the Chunin Exams to place a Curse Mark on me and test my potential as your body, then challenge the Third Hokage during the finals… you did it to _**save Karin from Danzo?!**_ "

"Oh yes… that's why I stole a _Grass_ _ninja's_ face to begin with." Orochimaru pointed out, Sasuke recalling that Orochimaru was indeed wearing a Grass headband when they first met. "You see, Danzo had this habit of rescuing the surviving failures from the Forest of Death and taking them in to become potential members of Root… that's how Foo Yamanaka and Torune Aburame were recruited. If the Forest of Death didn't kill Karin-chan, then he'd make sure to do the deed himself, or force her into the service of Root in exchange for her life. I saved her from either fate by _getting to her first,_ while the 44 gates were still closed to all outsiders."

"But how could you make sure Karin would survive the Forest of Death, or even pass the Written Test, when your focus was on _me_ most of the time?"

"I wasn't working _alone,_ obviously."

Sasuke immediately came to an epiphany upon Orochimaru's remark and his eyes widened:

"Kabuto… _Kabuto_ helped you make sure Karin went as far as she needed to go for you to recruit her. You rigged the Written Test's seating so Kabuto was right next to Karin; she had someone who _knew the answers_ right beside her if she couldn't figure them out herself. Then in the Forest of Death, up until you could confirm I survived the Curse Mark, Kabuto kept an eye on Karin and made sure she was alive. Then you and Kabuto switched roles; _you_ kept an eye on Karin and made sure she _failed_ , while Kabuto joined _my_ team to make sure that I _passed_. Then, the preliminaries… Kabuto _didn't_ just forfeit to keep up his weakling facade; he gave up to go outside and keep Karin alive until _my match_ was over. And then you went back outside yourself, getting close enough for Karin to _see_ one man, her fellow _**Grass**_ villager, but _sense_ another man entirely. Then you revealed your true face to her and promised her she'd get to see _me_ again if she joined you. That was all accomplished _before the preliminaries were over_. That's how you got to Karin, wasn't it?"

"That makes sense…" Jugo interjected. "Karin only wound up in danger _once_ during the entire Forest of Death exam: when Kabuto took his eyes off Karin to join Sasuke's team. That was when Karin lost her teammates and got chased by a bear."

Orochimaru was high with laughter. "Piecing together so much with only one statement! I'm so proud of you!"

"There's still something I don't get about it though." Sasuke said. "If you were so concerned with protecting Karin, then why did you assign her the _Southern Hideout_ , where Jashin was? Isn't that _putting Karin in danger?_ "

"It was the only way to protect her from Danzo after I got my hands on her." Orochimaru explained. "Danzo wouldn't dare schedule a meeting between us in that location in case Jashin broke out and attacked him. The Southern Hideout was the one place within my empire that _Danzo would not set foot in._ "

"In other words… Karin and Danzo were _never in the same hideout_ , because him meeting her _was a risk you couldn't afford,_ right?" Sasuke smirked.

"…As expected of the Copy Ninja's student." Orochimaru smirked back.

"At any rate…" Jugo interjected, "… what can we piece together about the _Jashin Succession Technique?_ That's what we're still here to learn."

"Right… we've gone off track long enough." Sasuke said as he closed his eyes in contemplation, beginning to collect his thoughts.

 _Orochimaru's confirmed his technique was inspired by Jashin's but they aren't the same; Orochimaru_ _ **fuses**_ _his chakra with his victim's and takes dominance after a mental battle, while Jashin's technique ends with a_ _ **new**_ _chakra altogether, with his own mind and his victim's body, with no trace of the victim's mind or Jashin's previous body somehow… Maybe Jashin leaves his own body and enters his victim's, then forces the original mind out of their body with a similar mental battle… The first part is obviously possible in some way. Since the Yamanaka clan, Dan, and Gaara's mother all did it, Jashin can do it too. But what happens to Jashin's previous body? The Uzumaki never found his original one… but after he took over Kagemaru, Orochimaru saw the broken Shinigami Mask lying in a pool of blood… maybe that's what happens to the original body: it transforms into blood! And if it did so rather violently - like in an explosion - that could be enough force to blast Jashin's mind out of his body… Then how does he guarantee that he enters the victim if he doesn't take any of his physical energy with him? He has access to Adamantine Sealing Chains, so maybe he binds his target with them and connects their chakra before the explosion… That could work; if his mind 'follows' the chains from his body to his target's then his mind would be in exactly the place it would want to be… It's just a matter of beating the original mind out of the body at that point… Yes, that might be how he does it, roughly…_

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, his logic finished. "I think I know how Jashin steals bodies. Orochimaru, I'll explain my theory, and you'll tell me if I'm right or not… that goes along with the rules of our battle, correct?"

"That it does…" Orochimaru reluctantly nodded.

"Then here's what I have in mind."

Sasuke proceeded to explain his theory on the Jashin Succession Technique…

[X-X-X]

Orochimaru's eyes burst with wonder. "I'm impressed, Sasuke-kun… amazed, even! You've figured it out… the _Jashin Succession Technique!_ "

"Now, we can finally leave…" Jugo breathed heavily, exhausted from the massive logic puzzle Sasuke and Orochimaru were putting together.

"I have just one final question." Sasuke gripped his chest in anticipation. "I only ask this because Suigetsu isn't here to do it himself… _Naked Swordsman._ You could have given us a hint about Nashiken without _incriminating yourself_ regarding Mangetsu's murder, Orochimaru. Why didn't you?"

At that moment, Orochimaru put away the Shinigami Mask, picked up the book he was writing in when Sasuke and Jugo came in, stood up from his chair, and handed it to Sasuke:

"That has to do with this… a book I'm writing. The title still hasn't been set in stone…"

Sasuke opened the book and looked at the title page.

 _The Complete Works of Orochimaru_

"You're writing an _autobiography?_ " Sasuke asked. "You're the _last_ person I'd expect to leave a public record of their life story…"

"What can I say? Jiraiya… He and I disagreed about practically everything, but there is _one subject_ where we were on the same page on… literature is a great way to pass your knowledge and experiences on to the next generation. That's something we both understood. And passing my knowledge on to the next generation is what I intend to do with this… _literally._ "

Jugo tilted his head in confusion. "Why would you have the need to do that? I thought you wanted to live forever and learn every technique there is to know."

"That phase of my life… _**It's over.**_ "

Orochimaru's revelation startled Sasuke and Jugo alike.

"Since I was given new life in the war, I've had a lot to think about, and I came upon a decision: I'm _done_ looking for new bodies. I will ride this one I have now until it gives out and I die of natural causes… and I will spend the rest of my life chronicling all the truths I've discovered over the years in this one book."

"Why… Why did you decide that?" Sasuke replied, feeling almost sad that Orochimaru chose to accept his own mortality and die despite every terrible thing Orochimaru had done in his life that, partially thanks to this journey, he knew intimately well.

"It's simple really… my _body_ may have stayed young, but that hasn't stopped my _spirit_ from getting old!"

Orochimaru's declaration stunned Sasuke speechless. The elderly snake did not bother to wait for a response before continuing:

"You're not the only one who changed thanks to the war, Sasuke-kun… When I first became a ninja, Hokage Mountain recently received its _third_ face; now there are _six_ , and a _seventh_ is just around the corner. I still enjoy chaos, but I no longer feel the compulsion to be the wind that starts it; instead I prefer to observe as battles unfold around me, watching new winds blow. My team, the Legendary Sannin, used to be famous and known worldwide as one of the strongest forces on the planet; now one member is dead and another is retired from field duty. And as for me … I went from controlling the largest criminal organization in the world and the second most powerful, and at one time a member of _**the**_ most powerful, to being but a mere old man living in the woods. But mostly, the biggest evidence that I've grown is that all the children I grew an interest in have become _adults_ , shaping the history of the world all on their own. Anko's grown from being my first student to a competent teacher in her own right. Kabuto's found himself and he doesn't need my guidance anymore. Itachi paid the ultimate price to stop a war before it began, while Fuzai's attempted to start a war at no cost whatsoever. Yoshitsune destroyed an entire country and might have destroyed a second. Jugo, you succeeded where Warushizen failed and became a Sage. Suigetsu no doubt avenged Mangetsu's death before he lost his soul to Jashin. Karin-chan's gone from a coward who could only run away and cling to the people that saved her, to a strong woman who can stand her ground and save others. And lastly you, Sasuke-kun… you've changed most of all. And that… is why I sent you on this hunt in the first place."

Orochimaru's speech had nearly driven Sasuke to tears.

Sasuke looked down and smiled. "Why you sent me on this hunt… I get it… You wanted me, wanted _**us**_ , to uncover your remaining secrets. That was why you only gave us clues, rather than names. Learning about your past was just as important as defeating our enemies, possibly even _more so…_ And you wanted us to do it on our own, _without you around._ Even a few minutes ago, you didn't give us the answers to Jashin's weakness or how his body theft worked; you got us to _work_ for that information. And the reason why… It was to prepare us for a world _without you in it._ This whole journey… the hints, the battle of wits just now, everything… it was all for this moment. You were planning on showing me this book of yours ever since Karin and I arrived at your doorstep, weren't you?"

"Indeed I was. When we travelled to the Naka Shrine and we spoke to the former Hokage, I felt something in me change watching you… It was the first time in your life you didn't jump to conclusions! You were listening, taking everything in, wanting to hear _**the whole truth**_ before making your decision to destroy the Hidden Leaf or protect it! That was the moment I learned that you grew up. You were no longer the _boy_ I met in the Forest of Death; you were a _man_ , and one who could properly inherit my will! I've chosen you to have the first copy of my book when I am finished writing it. But before I could present my book to you, I had to teach you to _search for the truth…_ that was another reason I set the game up. The game was to be _my final lesson to you_ as your teacher."

"The whole game… the point was to teach me to _search for the truth_ _,_ huh…" Sasuke slowly nodded, understanding Orochimaru's intention. "I've been doing that all along, even before starting the game… I came to you since I wanted to learn _the whole truth_ behind Shin…"

"Yes… You've sufficiently proven yourself as one who will seek out the truth. That is the will I bequeath to you… my successor as a _Seeker of the Truth._ "

Orochimaru dropped to his knees and bowed in front of Sasuke. "To uncover all the truths in the world, that is my dream. And I believe that dream shall live on… _**in you**_ , Sasuke Uchiha."

"You're… absolutely right…" Sasuke sombrely declared as he placed the book down on Orochimaru's desk, then bit his thumb and slammed his hand back on the book, a small puff of smoke appearing above it.

"A summoning jutsu?" Jugo raised an eyebrow.

"Please rise, Orochimaru." Sasuke commanded. Orochimaru complied, standing up and seeing a small hawk perched on top of his book. "This is Torichi… She'll keep you company until you finish the book, and when you do, combine your chakra with hers and you'll be able to summon me wherever I am. I will gladly take the finished product off your hands… and get it published, so the whole world will know your truths."

"Thank you… Sasuke."

Orochimaru turned away, tears forming in his eyes, not wanting his beloved student to see him crying. Sasuke turned around as well and motioned for Jugo to follow him out the same entrance they came in from. When they left the hideout, Jugo stretched out his wings once more, and Sasuke placed his hand on his chest as he braced himself for Jugo's take-off.

"Full speed to the Hidden Leaf, Jugo… we have a _Final Boss_ to defeat."


	44. Chapter 43: Reunions and Farewells

As he heard Karin's final message before the intruder flew away with her, Kakashi found his way to the Hidden Leaf hospital, which was just moments ago sealed away by a barrier similar to the one he saw used the day the Nine-Tails attacked over seventeen years ago.

"Sorry I'm late… again."

Kakashi's words earned the attention of Sakura, who was now quickly approaching Naruto's seemingly lifeless body; Kabuto, who stood atop a neighbouring roof, defeated; Tsunade, who was still inside the emergency room taking care of Suigetsu's, Shino's, and Akamaru's bodies; and Sai, who was inside with her. Kabuto leaped down from his position and walked up to Kakashi while Sai jumped out the hospital's window and rushed to Kakashi's side as well. Meanwhile, Sakura picked up Naruto's body and carefully ran to Kakashi, the four now standing in a circle. Tsunade, while not leaving her post, still listened in on the ensuing conversation.

Kabuto arrived there last due to his stumbling. "I'm the one who needs to apologize… I was the one that let him escape with Karin… And Naruto was the one who paid the price… that should have been _me…_ "

"No… you did everything you could. You have nothing to be ashamed about, for _this_ battle anyway." Kakashi consoled, Kabuto still looking away in depression. "Me, on the other hand… I wasn't even there. I tried to break the barrier dozens of ways, but none of them worked. I was about to try passing through the barrier by going underground with the Head-hunter Jutsu when I saw the intruder fly away with Karin and the barrier dispelled."

"It's a good thing you didn't, Kakashi-Sensei… If you touched the barrier, then you would have wound up just like Naruto…" Sakura replied as she looked down at Naruto's body in her arms.

"Oh… I guess I was lucky then…" Kakashi turned his focus back on Kabuto. "Why are you still sulking?"

Kabuto buried his head in his hands. "You said I did _everything I could…_ That includes summoning _Itachi_ , in case you weren't aware… and the enemy took him too…"

"I see…" Kakashi's eyes turned grim. "That _is_ a problem… Sasuke might lose himself again if he learns what happened."

"Excuse me, but…" Sakura said, "How is Itachi's soul being taken a _**bad**_ thing? He more or less destroyed Sasuke-kun's entire life; Sasuke-kun even left the village for Orochimaru just so he could kill Itachi _faster_. Why would Sasuke-kun get hurt to the point of _losing himself again_ if he learns what happened to Itachi?"

Everyone else froze at the question.

"And that's not all!" Sakura continued. "Naruto and Itachi were acting downright _chummy_ for the few seconds Itachi was around. It was so bizarre I couldn't respond to any of it! What happened to make Naruto _**like**_ Itachi so much?!"

"Umm… about that…" Sai responded. "You see, the thing about Itachi-kun is…"

Before Sai could continue, however, Kakashi placed his hand over Sai's mouth:

"No… it's _Sasuke's responsibility_ to tell Sakura the truth about Itachi! You _agreed_ to that just like Naruto, Yamato, Kabuto, and I did. I know you have a lot to share after your Curse Mark was removed, but you have to be _discrete_ about it. The _fastest_ path to the truth isn't always the _best_ one!"

"So Itachi has something to do with Danzo, I take it?" Sakura inferred, taking everyone present aback. "Sai, your Curse Mark only kept you from talking about Danzo, so whatever you're hiding has to be related to him. Kakashi-Sensei, please… what happened between Itachi and Danzo?!"

Kakashi frowned under his mask. "We're all terribly sorry, but we can't tell you. What happened regarding them is very sensitive information that, as Hokage, I've deemed _unspeakable_ without Sasuke's explicit approval. While Sasuke was in detention awaiting his sentence between the war and his pardon, I approached him regarding you not knowing it while the rest of Team Seven already did, and Sasuke made it very clear… that _he wanted to tell you himself._ All of your teammates, as well as the members of the Anbu that were formerly Root agents and Kabuto, who also know, were informed of this and consented to it."

"Why… Why did Sasuke-kun never tell me?! Not when I visited him in the hospital… Not when he left… Not when he summoned me… Not even the _memories_ he shared had anything to do with it!"

"That's something you will have to ask him when he gets back." Sai interjected. "He is going to be arriving with Jashin's weakness, correct?"

Sakura hunched her shoulders as she kept holding Naruto's body. "Yeah…"

Kakashi's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait… did you say _Jashin?_ As in _**Hidan's god**_ , Jashin?!"

Sakura, Sai, and Kabuto all nodded.

"Jashin's flying with Karin in Hidan's direction as we speak." Sakura explained. "Sasuke-kun and I theorized that Hidan killed Karin's mother, but we couldn't know for sure until Karin sensed Hidan's chakra, and it seems like she just confirmed it without even knowing it herself."

"That's right… you were part of the _Hidan Capture Team_ with Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji…" Kabuto recalled.

"Even without me it seems like they captured Hidan and were on their way back to re-bury him when Jashin flew away… I hope Sasuke-kun comes back soon…"

"Right now, we need to select a meeting spot." Kakashi said. "The whole village is a massive place to look for only two or three people. Sakura, out of everyone here, you've spent the most time with Sasuke _inside the village_ , so you should know the first place he'd think of if he was looking for you. That will be our rendezvous point."

"Our meeting place…" Sakura's eyes widened as she made her decision. "Yeah… we'll meet _**there!**_ Once I take Naruto's body to Lady Tsunade, I'll show you the _most important spot in the village_ for Sasuke-kun and me! Cha!"

[X-X-X]

 _Now, if I were Sakura and wanted to meet me, where would I go?_

Sasuke was thinking this as Jugo flew him towards the Hidden Leaf Village, now in view as the sun set. Before he could finish his thought however, Sasuke saw a few people crowded at a bench just inside the gate, too far away to make out clearly. Sasuke recalled this to be the place where he first saw Sakura after graduating from the Ninja Academy… and the last place he saw Sakura before he defected. This place held significance for both Sakura and him since that was where she tried to keep him from leaving, but only managed to see him off. It occurred to Sasuke that, because of how strongly the location tied them together, it would also be the perfect spot for Sakura to welcome him home.

"Jugo! Land now! We'll pass them if we keep going at this speed!"

As Sasuke instructed, Jugo slowed down and landed safely, just a few feet away from the mass of people. Sasuke could identify them all immediately. They were Sakura, who likely decided on that meeting place; Sai, who was with her when they separated at the Southern Hideout; Kabuto, who he and Taka encountered just outside the Hidden Rain Village; and Kakashi, his teacher and the Hokage, who despite having not seen since leaving the village on his journey, was instrumental to his success, being the writer of his pardon letter and deciding to extend Karin's pardon to Suigetsu and Jugo. But there were three people and one dog that should have been with Sakura and Sai but weren't. Immediately upon noting their absence Sasuke dashed toward the group with Jugo just behind him.

Sakura waved hello as Sasuke and Jugo approached their huddle. "Sasuke-kun!"

"Sakura! Where's Karin?!"

"Karin-san's… been taken," said Sai to Sasuke.

"It's a good thing we stayed a little longer then…" Jugo remarked. "We know how Jashin's body theft technique works, among other things."

"So you mastered Sage Mode too… Good work." Kabuto said upon noticing Jugo's changed appearance, right before his Sage Mode gave out thanks to the rapid flying.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "There's no time for congratulations. Where are Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru? They were with you when we separated."

"They didn't make it…" Sakura explained, sullen. "Shino and Akamaru were killed the same way Suigetsu was… and Kiba bought us time to escape with all their bodies by sacrificing himself… We haven't gone back to confirm his cause of death…"

"So there are seven victims in total… Suigetsu, Butsuma, Aoda, Shino, Akamaru, Kiba, and Naruto…" Sasuke deduced.

"You knew about Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"After repairing Sasuke's legs at Turtle Island, Gyuki gave me some of his flesh so I could grow back to normal size." Jugo said. "Naruto also had a piece of Gyuki, so when he was killed, I felt it."

Sakura tilted her head in confusion. "Gyuki?"

"The Eight-Tails." Sasuke clarified. "The Tailed Beasts have names… the Eight-Tails' name is Gyuki, and the Eight-Tails himself revealed it to us before we left Turtle Island."

Sakura crossed her arms in contemplation. "I see… Naruto also had some of the Eight-Tails in him for _Six Paths Sage Mode…_ "

"I'm sorry, but I can't keep up the illusion any longer!" Sai exasperatingly interjected. "There was an _**eighth**_ victim, Sasuke, and you have to know who it was!"

"An eighth victim? Who was it? We need to share everything we know if we have any chance at defeating Jashin."

 _Share everything? Where do you get off, Sasuke-kun?! You've been hiding something about Itachi and Danzo from me ever since you left two and a half weeks ago…_ Sakura thought.

"Itachi Uchiha."

Sakura's declaration made the five others speechless.

Sasuke's expression turned bitter for a brief moment, but he caught himself getting angry and took a deep breath, trying to relax and understand the whole situation. "So I take it you summoned my brother with _Impure World Resurrection_ and tried to have him use the Totsuka Blade to seal Jashin away, Kabuto?"

Kabuto was unable to keep eye contact with Sasuke. "Yes… We figured we could try sealing him in another dimension if killing, dismemberment, chakra drain, and immobilization all couldn't work. So I summoned Itachi to do just that. But I underestimated Jashin and some chains hit Itachi's feet before his Susano'o could form… I was careless… please forgive me…"

While Kabuto didn't truly expect Sasuke to forgive him, the Uchiha remained remarkably calm for someone who just lost his brother for the third time in one year. And after a while, Sasuke, to everyone's surprise and amazement, started smiling:

"I see… so that's how it is… of course. It figures that regardless of body type, the _mind_ would end up in the same place, even if they're dead…"

"You seem to be lost in thought about something." Kakashi observed. "Has hearing about Itachi's fate helped you in any way?"

"Yeah, it has. It's confirmed to me there's a way to _bring everyone back…_ if their bodies are still alive anyway."

Sasuke's statement utterly shocked everyone but Jugo.

"How do you figure _**that?!**_ " Sakura screamed.

"It's because everyone's souls are stuck in the Shinigami. That cross at Jashin's back and the _Shinigami Mask_ are imbued with the same energy… let's call it _Shinigami Energy_ for now. I'm the only one that can see it because I have _the Rinnegan_ , an eye that can see things that belong in other dimensions and the connection points to other dimensions as well."

"So you could go back to the Naka Shrine and use the _Shinigami Mask_ to release everyone's souls, and the ones with live bodies will come back?" Kabuto asked. "But someone would have to die to do that."

Sasuke shook his head. "There's another way. I'd just have to _go to the Shinigami's dimension_ and free everyone _from the inside._ "

"From the _**inside?!**_ " Kakashi shouted in disbelief. "Do you even know if it's possible to come back out on your own once you're in?!"

"Someone's done it already: Kamina Uzumaki, son of the inventor of the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique. He entered the Shinigami's dimension, created the _Shinigami Mask_ to seal Jashin away as a means of fighting his immortality _while still inside_ , and came out with the mask."

"That sounds very hard to believe." Sai objected.

"Wait… did you say _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique?!" Kabuto asked.

Sasuke nodded. "I did, and I know what you're thinking. Yes, Karin and Kamina shared a common ancestor: Kamina's mother, Kagura Uzumaki the First. Tsunade's grandmother, Mito, and Nagato were also descendants of the same woman. They're all members of what became known as the Kagura Dynasty."

"Nagato was a member?" Kabuto's eyes widened, understanding just how Nagato was able to sense him during the Fourth Ninja World War. "So that's what it was… Did Lord Orochimaru know about it?"

"Yeah… he even knew why he was in the Hidden Rain Village, away from the rest of his family. His mother was responsible for purging the world of all Jashinists following the First Ninja World War, then retired in the Land of Rain when she was finished in case any Jashinists turned up there… Hidan was likely the first follower since then, overhearing his 'God's' return from Karin's mother when she fled to the Hidden Hot Water Village to escape the Hidden Whirlpool's destruction. Orochimaru got all this from Jashin himself when they met shortly after the Hidden Whirlpool Village was destroyed, and Jashin got it from Kagemaru's memories."

"… Why didn't Lord Orochimaru tell me?"

"Probably for your own protection… or the world's. Orochimaru tried to make sure no one ever opened the seal he had locking Jashin away, and the only people who could do it were pure-blooded members of the Kagura Dynasty. Then he noticed you and your obsession with DNA, and must have figured that _you_ could have broken the seal if you injected Nagato's or Karin's DNA into yourself… And in your curiosity, you'd _try to open it_ if you caught wind of the Southern Hideout's secret…"

"I understand…" Kabuto looked away, towards the building where the Chunin Exam Written Test was being held. "That's why I spent most of my time during that Chunin Exam before the finals looking after Karin… _without_ Lord Orochimaru telling me why it was important. It was the only time he didn't give me an explanation for my orders I was satisfied with. I suppose that's why he considered the possibility I'd betray him after the preliminaries were over…"

"Anyway, Karin couldn't sense the _Shinigami Energy_ , so how did _Kamina_ do it?!" Sakura interjected.

"Kamina had something Karin didn't: Asura Otsutsuki's chakra."

Sakura, Kakashi, and Kabuto were bewildered by Sasuke's statement. Sai, however, was confused:

"Asura Otsutsuki? Who is that?"

"He's better known as the _Younger Son of the Six Paths_." Kakashi said, Sai's eyes widening in surprise. "He had an extremely powerful physical energy, and he reincarnated countless times after death alongside his elder brother Indra, who had extremely powerful spiritual energy. Asura's current reincarnation is our very own Naruto Uzumaki, and the previous one was the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju… and it seems Kamina Uzumaki was the one before that."

"Yes." Jugo confirmed. "By combining Asura's powerful physical energy with the mastery of spiritual energy acquired through the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique, Kamina Uzumaki had access to _Yin/Yang Style_ and used it to empower the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique to equal or surpass _Six Paths Sage Mode._ "

"But if Kamina sealed Jashin into the Shinigami, then how was Lord First born?" Kabuto asked in disbelief.

"That's what we haven't figured out yet." Sasuke answered. "Even Orochimaru's stumped on that one… But he's willing to agree with it nonetheless; everything else makes sense."

"All that info is great, Sasuke, but there are two things we still need to know." Kakashi pointed out. "Where the Shinigami's dimension is connected to this world… and how you plan on travelling there."

"First of all, the location of the Shinigami's dimension is on the same island as the Hidden Whirlpool Village. It being there is the reason the Uzumaki clan didn't join the Hidden Leaf in the first place. As for the second, I was hoping to watch Ino use the Mind Transfer Jutsu so I could copy it, but she's not back yet…"

At that moment, Sakura had an epiphany. "Cha! What about the _Human Path?!_ The Rinnegan's Human Path could sever a person's mind from their body by touching them. What if you did the _opposite of that_ , putting your mind into something else by touching it?! You have the Rinnegan, so you should be able to do that in theory!"

"Good idea, Sakura, but…" Sasuke looked down in shame, "… I don't know how."

The revelation made everyone quiet.

"The only Rinnegan techniques I know are ones I saw used in the war and the swapping ability unique to my own Rinnegan… and neither Madara nor Obito ever used the Human Path, at least not in front of me… If I saw Nagato fighting then maybe I could have picked it up, but-."

"Wait a minute… there is _someone_ who saw Nagato use the Human Path!" Kabuto interrupted. " _ **Me**_ , while I was controlling him during his battle with Naruto, Itachi, and Killer B. If we connect our chakra together and use _Ninshu_ , I should be able to share with you my memory of it… You'd be seeing the battle _the way I did_ , through Nagato's eyes. I used the Human Path to try to remove Naruto's soul… that memory would become yours."

"That's a start, but I don't think it'll be enough for me to learn how to _reverse it._ " Sasuke objected. "I'd still not have any memory of _severing my mind from my body…_ that's the important thing. Without that, then I won't be able to replicate the experience and reverse the technique."

"Oh, we could go get Shizune-Senpai! She was a _victim_ of the Human Path!" Sakura said. "If you had memory of _being on both ends of the technique_ , you'd be able to reverse it no problem!"

" **Getting her won't be needed.** "

Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the unnaturally deep and gruff voice that interrupted them to find a body that they didn't expect to be standing up, crossing its arms and smirking.

"Naruto?!" Sakura, Sai, and Kakashi shouted in unison.

"Pay more attention, guys…" Sasuke pointed at the body's face. "The eyes are red and the whiskers are thicker than normal."

" **Sasuke gets it…** " the one in Naruto's body said as he walked towards them. " _ **Two**_ **souls inhabit this body! TWO!** "

Sasuke smiled. "You must be… the Nine-Tails. It's been a long time since I've spoken with you directly."

" **No, that is** _ **not**_ **who I am!** **The orange-haired giant and the four-eyed snake can call me that all they want, but the** _ **rest of you**_ **are among my partner's closest friends! You shall address me by my proper name… KURAMA!** "

The force of Kurama's voice scared everyone into co-operating with its demands.

"So how are you moving like this, Kurama?" Kakashi wondered.

Kurama chuckled. " **This is probably why a Jinchuriki like Kushina couldn't use the** _ **Reaper Death Seal**_ **and needed Minato to use it for her…** **If the** _ **host**_ **loses their soul, then the** _ **Beast**_ **can do whatever they want with the body they left behind.** "

"Why… why did you wait for this long to act if you could move Naruto's body?" Sakura asked.

" **Because that** _ **Faker Shinigami**_ **was around, and I didn't want to get my soul ripped in two** _ **again**_ **, for starters!** **And besides that, my partner's cousin told the village to** _ **wait for Sasuke**_ **.** **So wait for Sasuke I did.** "

"Karin and Naruto are cousins?" Sasuke inferred.

" **Yes. Kushina and Kagemaru were siblings.** "

"At any rate… what did you mean when you said Shizune-san wouldn't be needed?" Sai asked.

"I think he means _his_ memory… He shares all of Naruto's memories as his partner Tailed Beast." Kabuto said. "Including his battles with Nagato, my failed attempt to take Naruto's soul, and Jashin's successful one... Kurama can provide Sasuke with all of that."

" **That's not all!** **While my** _ **Yang**_ _ **Half**_ **was sealed inside my partner, my** _ **Yin**_ _ **Half**_ **was inside the Shinigami with Minato. I can show you what the** _ **Shinigami's dimension**_ **is like as well, at least to one without the Rinnegan… If it will help to save my partner, I will share any memories I have.** "

"Thanks, but all I ask is the battles with Nagato, the loss of Naruto's soul just now, and some of your time in the Shinigami." Sasuke said. "That and Kabuto's side of the second battle with Nagato is all I need; we're in a race against time."

Sasuke walked closer to Kabuto and outstretched his hand, placing his index and middle fingers together and aiming them down. "Kabuto, you're first. Do the Seal of Reconciliation with me. That's the way I've done _Ninshu_ with Naruto once or twice before, so it'll be the easiest way for me to do it with others."

As Sasuke commanded, Kabuto performed the Seal of Reconciliation with Sasuke, connecting their chakra and sharing his memory of fighting Naruto, B, and Itachi during the Fourth Ninja World War, while emphasizing the attempt Nagato made on Naruto's soul. Once the exchange was finished, Kabuto stepped away.

"Kurama, you're next." Sasuke said.

As the Uchiha instructed, Kurama performed the Seal of Reconciliation with Sasuke, sharing with him Naruto's fights with Nagato from his Yang Half, time inside the Shinigami with Minato from his Yin Half, and Naruto's soul being removed earlier today. Once all the memories were shared, Kurama let go of Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke sat down on the bench and closed his eyes, taking some time to look over all the new memories he acquired. After a few minutes, Sasuke opened his eyes and stood up:

"I've got it. I know how to reverse the Human Path, and place my soul in something or someone else with physical contact."

"That's incredible, Sasuke…" Jugo said. "Now we can go to the Land of Whirlpools…"

"Still, how are we going to stop Jashin from taking Karin's body?" Sakura asked. "Someone will have to go after them while you're on your way there."

Suddenly, everyone heard a familiar voice rapping from just outside the gates:

"Leave that to me, the mighty Killer B! In case you were wonderin', Gyuki sensed a plunderin', so I came a runnin'!"

Jugo's eyes widened. "Of course… If _I_ felt Naruto's soul being taken, then Gyuki himself must have too. In fact, _all_ the Tailed Beasts would have felt it… They're all probably wondering what's going on, and may even come here to check things out…"

" **No… that's not necessary.** " Kurama smirked. " **Us Tailed Beasts can still discuss things amongst ourselves within what is normally Naruto's and my shared mind, though is for now just my mind… I will call a meeting to inform them all of what has happened.** "

"Thank you, Kurama…" Kakashi said as sweat rolled down his cheeks and into his mask. "I don't know what I'd do if _all the Tailed Beasts_ showed up at the village's doorstep at once."

Sasuke faced B with narrow eyes. "B… They're headed east, and Jashin is incredibly strong. You won't stand a chance in a prolonged fight. When you find them, just rescue Karin and run away. Is that clear?"

"Just like my bro, you underestimate me so! I've got a way to save the girl _**AND**_ make the bad guys hurl!"

"Seriously, B… I'm scared for you. Don't do anything reckless…"

Sasuke's warning fell on deaf ears; Killer B was off to the east so quickly that Sasuke doubted he even heard the end of it.

"That's just how he is, Sasuke." Kakashi said, turning his back to the group and toward his office. "Like a wild bull, you can't stop him once he gets going. The best we can do for him is doing the best on _our_ missions."

"Where are _you_ going, Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked.

"I need to make arrangements for a _back-up plan._ If something goes wrong and Sasuke can't defeat Jashin and save everyone from the Shinigami, then Jashin threatens to bring chaos to the whole world. In the event we fail, the only shot the world has at defeating Jashin is the _Treasured Tools of the Six Paths_ , which are currently divided in ownership between our village's Tenten and the Hidden Cloud Village. I need to send word to the Hidden Cloud, send a team to fetch Tenten, and bring all the tools together… with a ninja having enough chakra to wield them."

Kakashi turned back to point at Jugo.

"Me…" Jugo inferred. "Because I'm a Sage with Gyuki's chakra... I could use the _Tools_ if the worst case scenario arrives."

"Then I'll have to ride Odaka to get to the Hidden Whirlpool Village." Sasuke concluded. "Jugo's much faster than Odaka… It'll take more time, and time is something we don't ha-"

"Finally! Hinata-san! Tenten! We are back!"

The loud and youthful voice echoed from just outside the gates. Everyone present could tell it was Rock Lee, enthusiastic as always.

 _Right… Naruto was on Lee's team for the Curse Mark Army mission, but Naruto ran back here first to inform the Leaf that Karin and I passed out… and now Lee's team is back… wait a minute…_ _ **Hinata…**_ _her Byakugan… if we combine our eye powers, then we'll find the point of connection in no time at all!_

"Good timing, Lee!" Sasuke shouted. "Kakashi was looking for Tenten… and I need Hinata's help with something."

"You need _my_ help, Sasuke-kun? …" Hinata asked as the trio kept approaching, but she alone froze in place. "Wait… what happened to Naruto's eyes? They look like… Mr. Kurama's…"

Sai sighed. "There is… a lot that happened. Allow me to explain."

[X-X-X]

After hearing what happened to Naruto, Karin, and the other members of Team Eight, Hinata burst into tears and sat on the bench, unable to stand the weight of her despair. Sakura sat beside her on one end and Lee on her other, doing their best to comfort Hinata in her time of need. Kurama was calling the other Tailed Beasts in his mind, though his body was still present. Kabuto looked away, unwilling to approach Hinata at this time, while Sasuke froze, not sure how to proceed. Sai watched Sasuke intently, wondering what he was planning. Meanwhile, Jugo and Tenten had gone with Kakashi to make preparations for their back-up plan.

"Kiba-kun… Shino-kun… Akamaru… Naruto! …" Hinata said amidst her sobbing.

During her crying, however, Sasuke finally moved and poked Hinata's forehead, catching her attention. She looked up to see Sasuke staring deep into Hinata's eyes:

"They might be gone now, but there's a way to bring everyone back. Your team, my brother, Naruto, everyone… We can save them _together_ , with our eyes. My Rinnegan can see where the Shinigami's dimension is, and your Byakugan can see the entire Land of Whirlpools at once. If we combine our chakra, my trans-dimensional vision will increase to your telescopic range… and we'll find where to go in very little time."

"Thank you Sasuke-kun, but…" Hinata dried her tears with her hand as she replied, "… What about Kiba-kun? We don't know how he…"

Sai turned towards the gate. "Leave that to me. While you enter the Shinigami, I will collect Kiba-kun's body. I know the general area we left him."

"We can't wait for Kiba's body though." Sasuke objected. "There's no time for that, and I'll confirm whether he'll come back or not in the Shinigami anyway."

"Still… I want to do this, if only to re-unite Kiba-kun and Akamaru. Kiba-kun said that he preferred to be _dead with Akamaru than alive without him_ … If they wake up, they should be together when it happens."

"Let me go with you, Sai." Kabuto proposed. "If Kiba was killed the same way as everyone else, then his body will need proper servicing until his recovery. If his body is left unchecked, unlike the ones Lady Fifth is taking care of and Naruto's which has accelerated healing, he might start to develop the same symptoms as _Lord Orochimaru's arms…_ I can't cure them, but I have experience in _treating_ them, so I can keep Kiba's body running smoothly until he awakens."

"Thank you, Kabuto-Senpai…" Sai then broke away from the group and drew a bird made of ink. "Please hop on."

"You should go too, Lee." Sasuke said, removing his hand from Hinata's forehead. "Odaka can only carry four people, and Sakura, Hinata, and Kurama are all coming with me. There's no room for you with us, so you can make yourself useful finding Kiba's body with Sai and Kabuto."

"Oh… Of course!" Lee jumped off the bench and landed on Sai's ink bird in a single bound. "Allow me to join your team, Sai-kun!"

"And Kabuto…" Sasuke continued, Kabuto knocking his head back to see him. "When you're finished finding Kiba's body and bringing it to Tsunade, switch places with her."

"Why should I do that?"

" _Aoda's_ body needs servicing too."

"I understand. Katsuyu can be summoned at sizes even bigger than most summons…"

At that, Kabuto slithered on to the ink bird as well, and Sai took off for the south.

Sasuke looked to the eastern skies with vigour in his eyes. "Now… To the Hidden Whirlpool Village."

The Uchiha bit his thumb and slammed it on the ground away from the bench, a giant hawk appearing from amidst the smoke.


	45. Chapter 44: Excitement

Jugo and Tenten were leaping through trees on their way to the Land of Frost. Since the small country was equidistant from both villages, Kakashi decided it was the ideal place to meet the Hidden Cloud, and sent the pair off as quickly as he could.

"So, Tenten… what are the _Treasured Tools of the Six Paths_ , and how do they work?" Jugo asked. "I need to know what I'll be getting myself into."

"All right… I'll start with this one!"

Tenten pulled out the scroll on her back, opened it slightly, and tapped a seal written on it. A puff of smoke appeared, and from within it emerged a fan composed of white and red feathers:

"This is the Bashosen! Using this, you can attack with **_all five basic chakra elements!_** I used it myself briefly during the war, but I figured out the hard way I can only use it once a day without killing myself… Even so, the Bashosen's my **_favourite_** of the _Treasured Tools!_ "

"Do you have any others on you?"

"Just one more; the other three are with the Hidden Cloud."

Tenten proceeded to cancel her summon of the Bashosen, the weapon disappearing in a puff of smoke. She then tapped a different seal on her scroll, and she conjured a brown gourd with a red sash covering the middle:

"This is Benihisago. If someone says their most frequently uttered word while their Word Soul has been severed, or says nothing for a certain amount of time, they'll be sucked into it, body and mind!"

Jugo was dumbfounded. "Word… Soul?"

"From what I understand, a person's most frequently-uttered word is imprinted on their soul, becoming a part of their very being… That imprint is the Word Soul. You need two more of the _Treasured Tools_ to figure out what someone's Word Soul is though. First the Kokinjo, a golden rope that pulls the Word Soul out of someone's body in spiritual form. The second is Shichiseiken, a light blue sword that can cut a Word Soul apart from the rest of the target's mind once it's been pulled out, recorded on the sword until the victim is sealed in the Benihisago. That or the Word Soul _changes…_ Captain Darui's Word Soul changed from 'Dull' to 'Sorry' when he fought the Gold and Silver Brothers, and it saved him from being sealed away."

"That seems very impractical. Needing _three tools_ just to seal someone? And each one individually as taxing to use as the Bashosen, I assume?"

Tenten cancelled her summon of the Benihisago. "Yeah… that's part of the reason the Bashosen's my favourite. Three of the others are _freaking useless_ on their own! What was the Sage of the Six Paths **_thinking_** designing such _inefficient_ weapons?! One weapon could do _all three jobs at once_ for just a tiny bit bigger cost!"

"Maybe the Sage _didn't intend_ for a lone wielder of them all. Sasuke said the Sage wanted people to co-operate and learn peace… The _Treasured Tools_ may have been designed for several people to use as a team…"

"It makes a bit more sense when you look at it that way, but it's _still_ stupid! Individual might is _just as important_ as co-operation for effective teamwork during battle. A team is only as strong as its weakest link; you break _one member_ and the whole team falls apart. Just look at what happened to _Team Seven_ _!_ Orochimaru breaking Sasuke was all it took for everyone not to see each other for nearly _three years!_ For a team to be strong _together_ _,_ each member needs to be strong **_on their own_** too!"

Jugo fidgeted for a moment at the insult toward Sasuke. And within seconds he couldn't help but think about how Tenten's statement currently applied to Taka. Saddened and desperate, Jugo tried changing the subject:

"Nevertheless… there's still one _Treasured Tool_ you haven't told me about."

"Oh yeah… the Kohaku no Johei! It's a very big urn, and my **_second_** favourite of the _Treasured Tools_ , since it can seal someone without any other Tools' assistance. You think of someone while opening the urn and call out to them, and if the target responds no matter where they are, they'll be sucked in!"

"Why is it your _second_ favourite behind the Bashosen?"

"It's too costly for me to use. Out of all the _Treasured Tools_ , the Kohaku no Johei is the _most expensive_. I can use the Bashosen once a day, but the Kohaku no Johei? I'd kill myself trying. That's why I gave it back to the Hidden Cloud after finding it during the war; at least Captain Darui can use it once a day, but even then he tires himself out doing it. According to him, the only Hidden Cloud ninja to ever use it without exhausting themselves after one use were the Gold and Silver Brothers and the Third Raikage."

"Thank you for your input, Tenten… you've been a great help."

Suddenly, Jugo's jumps slowed down. Tenten stopped once she felt Jugo wasn't keeping up with her, and looked behind herself:

"Jugo?"

"I just need to stay put for a few seconds…"

Jugo prepared to be totally still and enter Sage Mode. Within moments, purple markings appeared around Jugo's eyes, his forearms widened and became white and scaly, a few small white horns grew from the top of his forehead, and he grew his unique pair of white wings. Tenten saw the whole thing happen.

Jugo took a deep breath. "…There… I'm in Sage Mode now. I hope my appearance does not scare you… I understand how frightening Orochimaru is to most Leaf Ninja, and my Sage Mode forces my appearance to become more similar to his…"

"Are you kidding me?! These _wings…_ I've never seen anything like them! They're so fascinating! How do they work?! They don't seem like they flap at all… How do you fly?!"

Jugo opened his arms wide in preparation for a hug. "Would you… like to find out?"

"Definitely! Please… Please take me flying with you! Just tell me what I need to do!"

"Just hold on to me as tightly as you can and I'll handle the rest."

At Jugo's suggestion, Tenten packed her scroll back up and ran straight into Jugo. She embraced him from the front, her arms barely managing to wrap around Jugo's torso, her hands clasping each other at the back of Jugo's waist. Tenten took the liberty of resting her head against Jugo's large, bare chest, which was how short Tenten was compared to him anyway. Jugo proceeded to hug Tenten back with his massive arms, and in under a minute Jugo and Tenten were high up in the air, red smoke propelling them upward. The smoke stopped when they reached Jugo's preferred height, and rather than smoke, red beams of light propelled them forward.

"This is so exhilarating!" Tenten shouted while looking up to Jugo's face, the high speeds and wind making it difficult to speak. "I'm usually… the calm, cynical type, but this _rush…_ up here with you, I feel just as energetic as Lee and Guy-Sensei!"

"It's a new experience for me too!" Jugo shouted back. "You're the first passenger I've had other than Sasuke! And flying with you… it feels different somehow!"

"You talk about Sasuke a lot! Be careful, or 'Sasuke' just might become your Word Soul!"

"I bet it already is! That or 'Kimimaro'!"

"Kimimaro?! **_Lee_** fought a Kimimaro four years ago! Did you know him?!"

"For a long time, Kimimaro was my only friend!" Jugo explained, Tenten frowning upon hearing it. "After he died, I was very lonely… but that changed when I met Sasuke! He, Karin, and Suigetsu… I became friends with all of them! They filled my life with purpose again, Sasuke most of all… and recently, I've made even more friends! Sakura, Kabuto … Killer B, Gyuki, and all the animals on Turtle Island… and finally…"

Jugo made a big smile and gripped Tenten tighter, " _you_ , Tenten!"

"Aww… thanks, Jugo!" Tenten smiled as she also tried to hold on tighter. "I'm so happy you can call me that! … Say, where did you and Kabuto learn Sage Mode?! It looks different than Naruto's!"

"We learned it at Ryuchi Cave! That's where all the talking snakes in the world are born and raised… Aoda was born there, and so was Manda! Senjutsu Schools are the only places in the world where animals capable of human speech are born because there's more natural energy in those places compared to everywhere else! The _White Snake Elder_ taught me that!"

"Really?! Guy-Sensei can summon Ningame, a talking turtle… and Kakashi-Sensei can summon Pakkun, a talking dog! So that means…"

"Yeah! There must be a _Turtle Senjutsu School_ and a _Dog Senjutsu School_ somewhere in the world! And since I saw a pair of talking cats while travelling with Sasuke, there ought to be a _Cat Senjutsu School_ as well!"

"Oh… and a _Monkey Senjutsu School_ too! Lord Third could summon a talking monkey! And Katsuyu's a talking slug… maybe there's a _Slug Senjutsu School_ on top of that, meaning seven Senjutsu Schools in all! Toad, Snake, Slug, Monkey, Cat, Dog, and Turtle!"

"There might even be _more_ we don't know about… those seven species are just ones the Hidden Leaf is acquainted with! Yes… I was planning on perfecting my Sage Mode at Ryuchi Cave, but now… I have a new dream! I want to visit every Senjutsu School in the world!"

"That's a good dream! You should go for it!"

"And… I want you to join me on my travels, Tenten!"

Jugo's invitation amazed Tenten. "You want me to _come along?!_ " she replied.

"Yes! Sasuke said I should only continue my training if I personally enjoy it… and after seeing you so excited about my Sage Mode… I'd be much happier if you were _with me,_ Tenten, your smiling face shining on me as you saw me train, than if I were all alone!"

Tenten's smile got wider as she blushed and closed her eyes. "You know… I just might take you up on that offer! Neji's gone, Guy-Sensei's in a wheelchair, and Lee hardly pays attention to me anyway… My team's pretty torn up! And my passion, _weapons and ninja tools…_ it has no place in a peaceful world! My life's going to get **_real boring, real fast_** if that's the only thing I'm interested in! But I've found another passion today… **_You,_** Jugo! Just being with you excites me!"

Hearing Tenten's speech made Jugo realize something. While Kimimaro and Sasuke helped calm him down when he lost control of himself, since learning Sage Mode that sort of companion was not who he needed anymore. His ordinary state of mind was soft-spoken and shy; he had difficulty expressing himself in most circumstances. He needed some help livening up and speaking his mind, giving him more confidence in his ability to express himself. Rather than someone to _shut him off_ , Jugo needed someone to _turn him on_ … and Tenten did just that.

 _You excite me too, Tenten…_

It wasn't long before Jugo started blushing with her.

[X-X-X]

Meanwhile, in the southern Land of Fire…

Kabuto called out to the one commanding the bird of ink the both of them and Rock Lee were flying on. "Hey, Sai…"

"Yes, Kabuto-Senpai?" Sai replied without looking back.

"Why did you agree to the gag order Lord Hokage placed on the truth about Itachi? As a Root agent _and_ a member of Team Seven, you'd have more reason than anyone to tell Sakura about it. You almost did anyway."

"It is because of… what happened during the Five Kage Summit."

"The Five Kage Summit…" Lee interjected. "Kiba-kun, Sakura-san, you and I were on a mission together then…"

Sai lightly smirked. "How ironic that it's us two picking up Kiba-kun's body, Lee-kun. That was the last time all three of us were together on a mission…"

"What happened?" Kabuto asked. "I was busy collecting DNA for _Impure World Resurrection_ and learning Sage Mode, so I don't actually know the details. I know what happened generally, such as Obito declaring the Fourth Ninja World War and Sasuke killing Danzo, and I knew Obito captured Foo Yamanaka and Torune Aburame since he forced me to use them in a demonstration of _Impure World Resurrection_ , but the specifics… aren't so clear."

"I wasn't at the summit myself either… I _was_ in the Land of Iron, however. My teammates Naruto, Captain Yamato, and Kakashi-Sensei went there to ask the Fourth Raikage to forgive Sasuke for presumably kidnapping and killing his brother… it was Naruto's idea."

"That… couldn't have gone over well."

"No it didn't… I honestly think it made the Raikage even angrier. At any rate, Shikamaru-kun was worried that a war between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Cloud was inevitable… Infamous as Sasuke was, he was still loved by Ino-san and his former team, one of which just became the Hero of the Hidden Leaf, and if the Fourth Raikage killed Sasuke to avenge his brother, then those loved ones wouldn't forgive him and go after revenge of their own, and that would in turn engulf both Hidden Villages in war. To prevent that from happening, Shikamaru-kun proposed that the Hidden Leaf _kill Sasuke before the Raikage got a chance to…_ and warned Sakura about his plan while I was in the room."

"After that, Sakura-san took charge of the mission herself, choosing Kiba-kun and me to join Sai-kun and her… I thought it was very strange, her being so eager to take on Sasuke-kun like that!" Lee added.

"And I assume that after Shikamaru warned Sakura about the plan, Sakura led you to the Land of Iron to warn Naruto about it?" Kabuto inferred.

"Actually no… she didn't." Sai replied. "Sakura told us to keep quiet and leave the warning to her, but rather than being honest, she attempted to convince Naruto to give up on Sasuke and abandon his promise to save him… by faking a love confession."

"Naruto didn't react to that well at all, did he? When **_I_** told Naruto to give up, I got a Rasengan in the stomach for my troubles…"

"It was nothing that violent, but…" Sai nodded. "Naruto accused Sakura of lying to herself and it got into a fight from there. The end result was Sakura stomping on Kiba-kun's foot for wanting to tell the truth and forcing the four of us to leave on our hunt to kill Sasuke… But I left behind an Ink Clone to warn Naruto and the others myself."

Kabuto tilted his head in confusion. "That isn't making things any easier to understand… That sort of event would make you want to _tell the truth at all costs_ , wouldn't it?"

"There are a few things I haven't told you yet. To be specific, the reason Sakura started lying and taking the plan into her own hands… was because of me. Right before Shikamaru-kun entered the room Sakura and I were in, I told her about how Naruto let himself get beat up by a few Hidden Cloud ninja looking for information about Sasuke, snce he refused to divulge any. When I saw that, I likened it to myself being bound by Sir Danzo's Curse Mark. I believed that his promise to save Sasuke was making Naruto _suffer_ and that he should not be held to it, and I confessed all this to Sakura. I more or less told her Naruto cared about her so much he was hurting himself keeping his promise to her… Sakura… she took it as if all of Naruto's pain was her own fault, and she proceeded to do everything she could to make up for it… alone."

"And so she tried to spare Naruto the pain of learning his classmates were trying to kill his best friend… and tried to kill Sasuke with her own hands, knocking you three out before you reached the Summit and hurting Naruto through her intention to protect him…"

Sai gasped. "How did you figure that out?"

Kabuto pushed up his glasses. "It's simple really… that's what Itachi would have done."

"Yes… I suppose you're right about that, if you look at things a certain way." Sai nodded as he slowed the ink bird down, approaching where he left Kiba the previous day. "My _careless spilling of a biased truth_ almost led to another tragedy."

"What do you mean by that, Sai-kun, Kabuto-Senpai?" Lee interjected.

"We can't tell you." Sai and Kabuto said in unison.

"The information is highly classified, and requires Sasuke's approval to be spread." Kabuto explained.

"I see…" Lee looked down, frowning, but quickly looked back up with a wide smile, winking with one eye and giving Sai and Kabuto a thumbs-up. "… then forget I asked! If that secret is so powerful, then I am probably better off not knowing it!"

"…Thank you." Sai and Kabuto both said as the ink bird descended to the ground. All three got off and Sai dissipated the ink bird, then he handed Kabuto and Lee one exploding tag each and pulled one out for himself. Sai then proceeded to explain his plan to the others:

"Kiba-kun's body should be within a 500 metre radius from here. When you find him, detonate your tag just far enough away from yourself that Kiba-kun's body is uninjured, to alert the others to your location. The other two will meet with you as quickly as possible. Once we've reunited, I will fly us back to the Hidden Leaf. Are your orders clear?"

Lee saluted. "Yes sir!"

"I have no objections." Kabuto said.

"Then let us recover Kiba-kun's body posthaste."

With those last words from Sai, the trio scattered through the nearby trees.


	46. Chapter 45: I'll Never Leave You Again

When Sasuke summoned Odaka, he was very deliberate in choosing the seating arrangement for her passengers. Sasuke himself took the pilot's seat as usual, while Sakura sat next to him in shotgun. Hinata, meanwhile, sat in the position Karin usually held in the back, using her Byakugan to spot for the team as Karin once did with her _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique, and Kurama in Naruto's body sat where Suigetsu did, beside Hinata in the back, looking in the direction of the Byakugan's blind spot to cover that weakness, which Hinata told the team about as they boarded Odaka.

As Odaka was flying to the Hidden Whirlpool Village, Sakura steeled her nerves for the question she was about to ask:

"Sasuke-kun…"

"Yes, Sakura?"

"Why are you keeping the truth about Itachi away from me?"

Sakura's calm inflection did little to hide her desperation. Sasuke's heart skipped a beat in panic, but he quickly regained his composure enough to respond.

"Up until yesterday… Being totally honest, I was planning on you never finding out. That's why I made everyone agree to me being the one to tell you… The reason I did that… It's because I felt I didn't deserve you in my life… so I tried to shut you out of it. _Again…_ "

Sasuke's confession distressed and horrified Sakura. "So when you left the village three weeks ago… You… you were _never going to come back_ , were you?" she asked.

"I didn't even know it myself then, but deep down that's what I had in mind. I didn't agree with being pardoned, so I tried to _exile myself_. Seeing the world with new eyes was just an excuse for going away. The truth was much darker… so dark I tried to blind myself from it. It took training at the Falls of Truth to realize just what I was doing."

Kurama turned his head to Sasuke. " **Did you say** _ **Falls of Truth?!**_ "

"Yes… you watched Naruto clear the same training since you share his memories. I managed to clear it even faster than he did when I was at Turtle Island. But the speed I did it in doesn't matter compared to what I learned there. I learned that I hadn't truly overcome my hatred; I just _turned it inward_ , toward myself. That's why I never told you about Itachi, Sakura… why I didn't bring you along when I left on my journey… Why I never intended to return… Why I didn't summon you to Shimeri Suna Estate… Why I made sure to separate from you as soon as I could when I _did_ summon you… All of it was because I _**hated myself**_ too much to give myself any chance of being happy… and I'm at my happiest _around you…_ "

"Excuse me, Sasuke-kun…" Hinata interjected, catching Sasuke's and Sakura's attention. "You said you never planned on telling Sakura-san _up until yesterday_. That means you plan on telling her _now_ , whatever it may be, correct?"

Sakura was stunned speechless by Hinata's observation.

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah… that's why I insisted she be with us on this trip. I'm ready to tell Sakura the truth about Itachi… and you too, Hinata."

"Why are you telling _me_ , Sasuke-kun? I don't have any reason to know what happened…"

"Yes you do." Sasuke looked back to Naruto's body. "The truth about Itachi is something Naruto's known about since the Five Kage Summit, and he and you just entered a relationship at Shimeri Suna Estate. I don't want you and Naruto to go through the same problems that Sakura and I did… so there should be no secrets between you; if _he_ knows about Itachi, then _you_ should too."

"Okay, Sasuke-kun… your brother's secret is safe with me."

Sasuke focused his attention back on Sakura. "Alright, Sakura, Hinata… I'll tell you both the truth behind Itachi… but I have to start the tale with my parents. Understanding Itachi requires that you understand my parents first."

"Your parents…" Sakura said. "They were students of the White Fang, Kakashi-Sensei's father…"

Sasuke shook his head. "That's not the important part. The tale starts with Kurama's rampage on the Hidden Leaf just after Naruto's birth. Before the village blamed Naruto for the attack, they had another target for their hatred… my parents. They were the Leaf Village's _prime suspects_ for masterminding Kurama's attack."

Sakura's eyes widened with shock. "They were?!"

"Yeah… Kurama himself can attest to that." Sasuke said as he looked in Kurama's direction.

" **Yes… Fugaku and Mikoto would have been very suspicious indeed…** **To start with, being Kushina's teammates Fugaku and Mikoto knew she was my Jinchuriki. And there were Sharingan in my eyes when my rampage started, so it would have looked like an Uchiha was controlling me… And when I attacked the village, most of the Uchiha weren't there. The rest of the village would naturally believe they knew the attack was coming and hid for their own safety, but the truth was something else entirely…** "

"What _was_ the Uchiha clan doing during Naruto's birth?" Hinata asked.

" **They were holding a meeting at the Naka Shrine regarding the** _ **Shingami Mask**_ **.** **When Team White Fang found the broken shards of the** _ **Shinigami**_ _ **Mask**_ **at the Hidden Whirlpool Village, Kushina repaired it and at Fugaku's instructions, she worked on a seal so that it would only work in the Naka Shrine. Then Mikoto told Kushina to also develop a way to summon the Shinigami without the mask, so the village could use the Shinigami in emergencies without strictly needing the Uchiha's permission… a balance of power, if you will. She took a break from field duty for the following two years or so, spending most of her time on both projects, even into her pregnancy, with the convenient excuse of being traumatized by her previous village's destruction letting her stay away from battle. Kushina finished the seal on the** _ **Shinigami Mask**_ **and invented the** _ **Reaper Death Seal**_ **at the same time… one week before Naruto's birth. During that time, she taught the jutsu to Minato and Minato taught it to the Third Hokage, since she feared she couldn't use it herself having a second soul in her body… She also handed the refurbished** _ **Shinigami Mask**_ **to Fugaku, who organized a meeting to tell his clan about his intentions regarding it. He, Mikoto, and all Uchiha with a Sharingan were required to attend. It was just his** _ **bad luck**_ **that it was the same day as Naruto's birth date, something he did not know of until** _ **hours before the meeting**_ **when Kushina accidentally let her pregnancy slip to Mikoto, too late for him to reschedule… The pregnancy was such a deep secret for the village that not even Kushina's own** _ **teammates**_ **were made aware of it… And if they** _ **were,**_ **well… Let's just say we'd be living in a very different world.** "

"But the Uchiha were all at the Naka Shrine when you attacked… They were innocent! They'd all have alibis!" Sakura objected. "How could suspicion fall on them in the first place?!"

" **The only ones who Team White Fang told about their plans regarding the Shinigami before that night were the Third Hokage, Minato, and Jiraiya.** **They were the only members of the Hidden Leaf's higher-ups they could trust with such information… Koharu and Homura had a history of being prejudiced against the Uchiha, and Danzo and Orochimaru just tried to draft Itachi into Root. After that night, Minato and Kushina were dead, and Jiraiya never stuck around long enough to have any impact on the village, so the Third Hokage was the only one outside the Uchiha clan that supported Fugaku and Mikoto's claim. They were found innocent thanks to him, but the damage was done, innocence or no…** "

"What… _damage_ would that be?" Hinata asked.

"I'll take over from here, Kurama." Sasuke said. Kurama nodded, letting the Uchiha tell the rest of the story. "The damage Kurama's referring to is the bond my clan and the village had. That was severed the moment my parents were falsely accused of high treason and attempted genocide. They were found innocent, sure… but they _never would have been accused to begin with_ were they told of Naruto's birth."

"Because if they were told, your father would have scheduled the meeting for _a different date_ , and they would have participated in protecting the village along with everyone else…" Sakura inferred.

"It gets better than that, Sakura." Sasuke's eyes turned sour. "If my parents were informed of Naruto's birth, they would have been _there to see it_ _,_ being the mother's closest friends. Father could have stopped Kurama's rampage before Obito got a chance to get him under his control with his Sharingan by using _his_ _ **own**_ _Sharingan_. Then, with the Fourth Hokage chasing Obito away from the scene, Kushina could have sealed all of Kurama into Naruto, since extraction would have killed her eventually anyway. There was a chance, no matter how small, that my parents' presence could have resulted in _far less casualties_ that night. My parents must have realized it and blamed the village for their lack of trust, because that night was the start of my parents' growing resentment for the village… and their plans for a _coup d'état._ "

" _ **A coup d'état?!**_ " Sakura and Hinata shouted in unison, both filled with terror at the prospect.

"But they were the students of _the White Fang!_ " Sakura protested further. "How could students of such an incredible and honourable ninja think of something so terrible?!"

"Please. This isn't _close_ to the first time you've been exposed to good teachers raising 'bad' students. Danzo was the Second Hokage's student. Orochimaru was the Third Hokage's student. Nagato was Jiraiya's student. Obito was the Fourth Hokage's student. And _**I**_ was Kakashi's. And so my parents were the students of Kakashi's father. That was probably why Kakashi was chosen to be my and Naruto's teacher in the first place, because of how successful _Team White Fang_ was in its heyday."

Hinata continued to struggle with the idea. "But still…"

"On top of that…" Sasuke added, "It was _because_ they were students of the White Fang that they _couldn't stand_ _for_ _any injustice in the village_. They valued what was right ahead of the law… And if it came to a point that the village's corruption went too far, they'd take up arms and _fight that law to the bitter end_. Kakashi's first lesson was to teach us that our comrades were more valuable than the rules, and that those who abandoned the former were worse than those who abandoned the latter… That began as the White Fang's philosophy, and it rang true to my parents' ears."

"I think I can get that, but Kurama said that your parents trusted Lord Third… they wouldn't have started a _revolution_ as long as he was in charge, right?!" Sakura asked.

"They may have trusted the Third Hokage, but not even that trust could sway their minds completely. I think Orochimaru's exile had something to do with it… It was the Uchiha Police Force led by Father that finally exposed his unethical experiments to the Hidden Leaf. The Third Hokage used the information Father provided from their investigation into the nine missing children used for Orochimaru's first Curse Marks to corner him, and the Third let Orochimaru escape, unable to fight his student when it really counted."

"Lord Fugaku and Lady Mikoto must have thought that Lord Third was _too soft to rule…_ " Hinata inferred.

"Yeah…"

Sasuke looked down in reflection, lost in thought. But he was suddenly snapped back up by Sakura, who poked his right shoulder:

"What's next? This is supposed to be about _Itachi_ , but Kurama's only mentioned him in passing and you haven't said anything about him at all!"

"I was just getting to that, actually." Sasuke replied. "The clan slowly made their distrust of the village more obvious, and the village responded by no longer inviting the Uchiha to participate in important village discussions. To combat this, my parents had Itachi become a member of the Anbu, who answer directly to the Hokage, as a means of spying on the village's higher-ups. But Itachi disagreed with my parents and believed that rebellion wasn't worth the bloodshed it would cause. He tried to find a way to avert it, and to that end became a double-agent, giving _the village_ as much information on _the clan_ as he did the other way around."

"Itachi-kun… was on _the village_ 's side?" Hinata asked in disbelief.

"It tore him apart inside, having to choose between his family and the village… but a single event made Itachi place his hand firmly on the village's side, intent on stopping the impending civil war at all costs."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "And that event is?"

"Shisui Uchiha's death. When my parents caught wind of Itachi not acting as he should have been, Father assigned Shisui to keep tabs on him to confirm where his loyalties lied. Unbeknownst to Father though, Shisui was on _Itachi's_ side the whole time - also trying to find a way to stop the rebellion before it started - and Shisui found a solution before Itachi did: his Mangkyo Sharingan's jutsu, _Koto Amatsukami._ "

Hinata tilted her head in confusion. "Koto Amatsukami?"

"It was an incredibly powerful Genjutsu, even stronger than Tsukiyomi. Using it, one could completely alter a target's personality, controlling their actions and words so utterly that the target and others couldn't even notice they're under a Genjutsu without some kind of powerful sensing technique or enhanced eye… and the basic Sharingan won't cut it. In fact, I'm sure only a Tenketsu-seeing Byakugan or the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique had any chance of seeing through it, because of the detail needed for Tenketsu-vision and lie-detection."

"Then Big Brother Neji could have seen through it, but I can't." Hinata inferred. "His Byakugan could see Tenketsu while mine don't…"

"Not 'you can't', Hinata; You _couldn't._ Koto Amatsukami _doesn't exist_ _anymore._ The technique was unique to Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan, and both of Shisui's eyes have been destroyed."

"How did that happen?" Hinata asked.

"Don't answer that, Sasuke-kun… we can't get sidetracked." Sakura said.

"Actually… what happened to Shisui's eyes is extremely relevant. Shisui planned to use Koto Amatsukami to brainwash my parents into calling off the coup d'état, but Danzo stopped him before he could. He assaulted Shisui, stole his right arm and eye, and weakened him to the point he couldn't use his left eye any time soon… With Shisui's solution to the coup d'état ruined, he believed a bloody civil war was inevitable, so he gave Itachi his left eye because he was the only one he could still trust. Then he killed himself to awaken Itachi's own Mangekyo Sharingan. Shisui's death convinced Itachi that there was no averting the war and reported such to the Hidden Leaf's elders. How the eyes got destroyed is best left for later… But for now, remember that Danzo had one while Itachi had the other."

"So how did the elders react?" Hinata wondered.

"Lord Third couldn't have been happy with the news… his village going to war with itself was the _last_ thing he would have wanted!" Sakura predicted.

Sasuke nodded. "You're right about that. The Third Hokage gave his all to end the coup d'état without any casualties on either side, but just as my parents figured he was too soft and he couldn't put his foot down when the time called for it. Homura and Koharu were moving for a _pre-emptive strike_ against the clan, to kill _them_ before the clan had a chance to kill _anyone else…_ Including killing the children to prevent them from growing up seeking revenge…"

"By that you mean _**you…**_ " Sakura realized. "But someone had to have stopped Lord Homura and Lady Koharu's plan since you were spared. If not Lord Third, then…"

Sakura gasped as she figured it out.

"It was Danzo and Itachi, of course."

Sasuke's words confirmed Sakura's suspicions.

"Danzo spoke with Itachi in private and explained to him there were only three things Itachi could have done in his situation," the Uchiha continued. "The first option was to side with the village and let Homura and Koharu destroy the clan, including me. The second was side with his parents and support the rebellion, dying along with them and every other Uchiha in the civil war. The third… was to _destroy the clan himself,_ taking the blame for the village, hiding our parents' plans for a rebellion, and most importantly of all… saving my life."

" **With the choices he was given, he did the best thing he could have…** " Kurama remarked. " **His village doesn't dirty its hands, his clan's reputation remains pristine, and his brother gets to live… Everybody wins!** "

"Everybody but _Itachi-kun himself…_ " Hinata remarked back.

"Yeah, when you look at it that way, Big Brother was the only real loser." Sasuke added. "He may have disagreed with our parents and preferred mass-murder to civil war, but Itachi still loved his family and had to carry the guilt of killing them all alone, keeping the truth to himself until his death. The only solace he could salvage from the remainder of his life was the satisfaction he could get from protecting me and the village from the shadows."

Sakura exploded. " _Protect_ you… _**and**_ the village?! But he joined Akatsuki… and _**tortured**_ you when he came back after Lord Third died! He did nothing but _**hurt**_ you and the village for the rest of his days!"

"From an outsider's perspective, yes, that's what he did. But he really intended to _protect_ the village and me. Just before the massacre, he met Obito, who came to invite Itachi into Akatsuki and destroy the village and his clan. Itachi agreed to Obito's help destroying the clan on the condition that I and the village were spared. That protected the village and me. Then Itachi must have noticed Danzo doing clean-up duty and taking Sharingan from dead Uchiha. Between that and what happened to Shisui, he figured Danzo would go after me despite their deal, and responded by pleading with the Third to protect me from Danzo while he was away. Then he took Akatsuki up on their offer… on the condition that Akatsuki stays out of the village as long as he lives, again protecting the village and me."

"But he broke that condition himself!"

"And he _wasn't following orders_ while doing so."

Sakura went speechless at Sasuke's statement.

"Look at the timing of his arrival, and what actually happened when he was there. Do it with the knowledge you have now." Sasuke instructed.

"It happened right after Lord Third died…" Hinata said.

"Which meant Itachi's deal with Lord Third to protect you was no longer valid… and Itachi sent you to the hospital, where _you'd be monitored 24-7…_ " Sakura recalled.

"And with so many eyes on me at all times, Danzo couldn't make a move. I was hospitalized by Itachi so that Danzo _couldn't kill me._ " Sasuke concluded.

"But what about Kakashi-Sensei?" Hinata wondered. "He was also in the hospital…"

"That was for the village's benefit, not mine. Itachi had to _put on a show_ to warn the village that Akatsuki was after the Tailed Beasts, including Naruto's, and to make the act convincing, he had to create a _casualty_ of some sort. The casualty just so happened to be a non-lethal one, and one that could be repaired fairly easily as soon as Tsunade came back. That's likely something Itachi _predicted_ would happen after the Third's death thanks to his insider knowledge. And because Tsunade returned as planned there were only _two lasting impacts_ of Itachi's return; the village was now aware of Akatsuki's existence and their plan to capture Naruto… and I reaffirmed my hatred of my brother."

Sakura's eye twitched. "How is reaffirming your hatred a _good_ thing for you?"

"It _wasn't…_ but it's the thought that counts. There was something else Itachi wanted beyond protecting me and the village… He wanted to _punish himself_ for destroying the clan and put an end to his grief. His method of doing that… was getting _me_ , the one person he loved more than anyone, to _hate_ him and kill him in revenge. It would have turned me into a hero in the eyes of the world and preserved the clan's reputation and the village's innocence, and the truth about my clan would have died with Big Brother."

"But Obito was still around and could reveal what happened at any moment, and even attack the village once he was dead!" Sakura objected. "Certainly Itachi must have thought of that before _killing himself!_ "

"He did. That's why he put two fail-safes in place to protect the village and me after his death. But as Obito said… they only went as far as the _fail_ part. The first was one free use of Amaterasu, which was set to trigger if my eyes ever made contact with Obito's Sharingan. Obito was the first to find me and Itachi after our battle, taking my unconscious body and Itachi's eyes away… and Amaterasu triggered the moment I woke up and saw Obito next to me. But he escaped being burned to death with Kamui… Then he ruined the first fail-safe by spilling the beans."

 _Reacting to Obito's Sharingan? Oh god… if our team found Sasuke-kun before Obito did, then we all would have been burned to death, since Kakashi-Sensei also had Obito's Sharingan!_ Sakura thought.

"That leads me to the second fail-safe. Just before Itachi and I fought, one of Itachi's Shadow Clones encountered Naruto and stuffed a crow that had Shisui's left eye inside him after listening to how strongly Naruto cares about me… "

"Shisui-san's left eye…" Hinata gasped. "Did Itachi-kun intend to use Koto Amatsukami on _you?!_ "

"Yes, on me." Sasuke confirmed, filling Sakura and Hinata with dread. "It was only meant to be used as a last resort in case the first one failed. Itachi expected that in the event the first fail-safe didn't work, I'd learn the truth and try to destroy the Hidden Leaf for their role in the clan's destruction. Needless to say, Big Brother was right… At any rate, Itachi thought that I would awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan following his death and use his eyes to acquire the _Eternal_ Mangekyo Sharingan to keep myself from going blind, so he programmed a 'Protect the Leaf Village' command into Koto Amatsukami to trigger when _Naruto saw Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan…_ and that happened with _Itachi himself_ , when he and Nagato encountered Naruto and B during the war."

 _That's what broke Itachi free of Kabuto's control and allowed him to fight Nagato alongside Naruto and Killer B… That must have been when Naruto and Itachi became friends… so Naruto must have learned the truth before that point. Naruto did tell Sasuke he knew the truth about Itachi at the Five Kage Summit… So that's when he, Kakashi-Sensei, and Captain Yamato learned about it… Just before I showed up in the Land of Iron and did_ _ **that…**_ Sakura deduced.

"After being freed from Kabuto's control, Itachi destroyed Shisui's eye himself with Amaterasu since he didn't want Shisui's DNA getting into Kabuto's hands." Sasuke concluded.

"What happened to Shisui-san's other eye?" Hinata asked.

"It was destroyed during my battle with Danzo at the Five Kage Summit. All official reports call Danzo's death a murder… but I didn't actually land the killing blow. Oh, it definitely _should_ be called a murder, but after I critically wounded him Danzo killed _himself_ with a desperation attack intended to kill Obito, Karin, and me… by destroying his own body, Shisui's right eye included."

"Danzo had Shisui's right eye…" Sakura gasped. "That's how he became Substitute Hokage; he used Koto Amatsukami on the Fire Daimyo and no one in the room knew about it!"

Sasuke nodded. "That's a distinct possibility. And he would have used it on Mifune to make himself the leader of the Shinobi Alliance during the Five Kage Summit if Ao didn't recognize Shisui's chakra in Danzo's right eye using his Byakugan."

" **Nonetheless…** " Kurama interjected, " **We've finished telling the full truth about Itachi.** "

"I hope that helps you understand my brother's actions… as well as mine." Sasuke sighed, his tale complete.

All of a sudden, Sakura started to cry:

"I… _do_ understand Itachi… _Painfully_ well. I acted _exactly the same way he did…_ when he destroyed your clan… during my trip to the Land of Iron… I can even plot what happened on a one-to-one map…"

Sasuke was stricken with surprise to hear that Sakura of all people did something similar to Itachi.

Hinata tilted her head in confusion. " _One-to-one map_ , Sakura-san? How do you figure that?"

"The _threat_ of war… Your parents are your present self, Sasuke-kun… The idea for a _pre-emptive strike_ to avoid war and a cycle of revenge… The elders are Shikamaru… The one _futilely_ trying to keep it from happening… The Third Hokage is Ino… The one being _more personal_ , directly impacting the culprit's actions whether meaning to or not… Danzo is Sai… The _innocent one_ that the culprit tried to keep out of the conflict by any means necessary… Your child self is Naruto… And the _culprit_ who took everything into their own hands… trying to destroy the threat all on their own… hoping to keep the threat from sinking any lower and trying to manipulate the innocent one into feeling something they didn't in order to keep them from the truth… Itachi… _**IS ME!**_ "

"That manipulation… it was the fake confession, wasn't it?" Sasuke inferred. "You didn't want Naruto to learn what you were up to… that you were _planning to kill me_. Naruto would have been furious with you if he saw you kill me without knowing the whole story… But Naruto called you out on your lie and figured out the truth, right? That's why he interfered…"

"No… _Sai_ did that… I was adamant Naruto never learn… _Sai_ told the truth after I left…" Sakura confessed through her tears, Sasuke raising an eyebrow. "Sai… he must have known all along since he was a part of Root… Danzo must have told him before sending him on the mission to Tenchi Bridge with us to give him a motive to kill you… His way of protecting the village… He probably saw the same connections I'm seeing now as the event was unfolding and told Naruto the truth before the same tragedy could play out again…"

"So Sai found the _fourth option_ Danzo never told Itachi about…" Sasuke smirked. "Good on him."

" _ **Fourth option?!**_ " Sakura and Hinata exclaimed in unison, both shocked and amazed.

"The way to disable the threat without bloodshed, the one way everyone _truly_ wins… Itachi couldn't figure it out until after he died, and Danzo deliberately avoided it …" Sasuke took a deep breath before continuing, "… the fourth option; _tell the innocent one about the threat and how the culprit intends to stop them._ "

" **If Itachi did that, then you wouldn't approve of either side and demand they stop their fighting.** " Kurama inferred. " **Then both sides' love for you would overcome their disagreement and the coup d'état would be cancelled.** "

"Yes… Itachi was too focused on _protecting_ _me_ to realize I was the key to stopping the coup d'état all along. It was only during our fight with Kabuto, when I told him I didn't even _want_ his protection, but instead to earn his _respect_ that he finally figured out just where he went wrong. Thankfully, Sai had the knowledge from the previous tragedy and his own desire to form bonds letting him do the one thing no one back then considered, and it saved everyone in the end… Me, Naruto, Sakura, the village… everyone."

"Excuse me, but…" Hinata interjected, "Sakura-san, did you really pretend to _confess your love_ to Naruto?"

Sakura dried her tears. "I'm sorry, Hinata… I knew how you felt… I knew you were in love with him… And part of me thought he was in love with you as well… But even so, I lied to Naruto about my own feelings! I was so desperate to protect Naruto, so desperate to save Sasuke-kun from a life of evil the only way I thought was possible, so desperate to do something on my own to make up for letting my team down over and over again, that I ignored the feelings of everyone around me, and I only ended up making things worse… For Naruto, for Sasuke-kun, for Sai, for the village, and for you too, Hinata…"

"It's okay." Hinata smiled, Sakura's eyes widening with shock. "You may have made mistakes and tried to take on too much by yourself, but you always have everyone's best interests at heart and you never give up on the people who matter to you. That's something I admire, and something you should be proud of, Sakura-san."

"Thank you, Hinata…"

[X-X-X]

A few minutes passed in silence.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun…" Sakura said, breaking the air of quiet.

"Yeah?"

"Sai knew the truth to begin with, you were told by Obito after Itachi died, and the rest of Team Seven learned during the Five Kage Summit… so when did Kabuto learn it?"

Sasuke was caught off guard by the question. "That's probably… when he was at the operating table, overseeing the surgery to equip Danzo with Shisui's arm. Shisui couldn't accept the First Hokage's DNA, so Danzo went in-person to one of Orochimaru's hideouts to be outfitted with an arm imbued with both men's DNA. The arm came from a man with a unique gift to accept _all_ DNA: Shin, my first opponent since my journey started. Danzo's right arm was originally Shin's, and Shin's right arm was originally Shisui's. Danzo told Shin about Itachi on the operating table so he'd have someone in the Hidden Sound out to kill me, and Kabuto must have overheard it."

"You never showed me a memory like that!"

"The memories I gave you about Shin were _fake_ , Sakura…"

The pink-haired Kunoichi's jaw dropped.

"I knew Shin was tied heavily into the truth about Itachi," Sasuke continued, "and at the time, I didn't want you to know. So I altered the story I gave to you about Shin to remove everything related to Danzo or Itachi. I omitted a few other parts along the way related to Itachi as well. Can you… forgive me for that?"

"Sasuke-kun… have you learned _nothing_ from Itachi?"

Sasuke froze in anxiety at Sakura's question. Seeing this, Sakura cupped Sasuke's right cheek with her left hand and smiled:

"Relax… All I mean is that you tried to _kill_ me and _I still love you._ A few fake memories here and there are _no trouble at all!_ Cha!"

"Sakura…"

Sasuke's tension eased up knowing Sakura still loved him despite everything he put her through. He had to treat her better now, for her sake as well as his own. To this end, he momentarily let go of Odaka's reins to do what appeared to everyone else as poking Sakura's forehead. But Sasuke defied everyone's expectations and his hand went past Sakura's head and grabbed the back of it, pulling her closer to him. The sudden action made Sakura flinch, letting go of Sasuke's cheek and closing her eyes. Sasuke simultaneously faced Sakura, closed his eyes, dipped his head slightly to account for their difference in height, and pushed his lips forward; they made contact with Sakura's the moment her head got within range of his.

Sakura opened her eyes to find Sasuke kissing her. She immediately relaxed, closed her eyes again, and held Sasuke's head in both her hands. This only lasted a few seconds, however, for Sasuke quickly broke the contact to resume flying duties.

Sakura's face went completely red. "Sasuke-kun! That, that was… that was the first _**real**_ kiss either of us ever had…"

"That was the idea…" Sasuke blushed in turn. "Sakura, I've hid things from you and kept you away for far too long… The time has come to tell you how I really feel, all illusions finally laid to rest… _I love you, Sakura,_ and I will _never leave you again._ "

Sakura was so awestruck and bewildered by Sasuke's confession that she was unable to speak for the rest of the trip, passing out from sheer wonder.

"Aww…" Hinata whispered to Kurama from behind them. "I always thought Sasuke-kun and Sakura-san were cute together…"

" **Just between us… do you want to kiss this body again?** " Kurama quietly asked with a wicked grin. " **I could tell you liked the last one… Those** _ **naughty thoughts**_ **I was sensing…** "

Hinata shook her head in embarrassment. "Sorry, Mr. Kurama! It wouldn't mean anything if Naruto didn't experience it with me… I'm sure you can understand that."


	47. Chapter 46: A Captive of God

Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, and Kurama took off for the Hidden Whirlpool Village on Odaka's back at sunset. They arrived at dawn of the following day, but several hours before then, Kurama suddenly stopped checking Hinata's blind spot and sat down, reflexively fidgeting in apprehension:

" **No…** "

"What's wrong, Mr. Kurama?!" Hinata asked.

Kurama held Naruto's stomach in agony. " **I felt it… one of my fellow Tailed Beasts… just** _ **died.**_ **Naruto's body… has chakra from all of us, so if one of them bites it… we feel it…** "

Sakura looked back to Kurama with worry. "Died?! Are you sure?!"

" **There's one way to check.** **I will call a meeting of the Tailed Beasts, and whoever is absent…** "

"… Is dead." Sasuke said. "Then get to it."

" **Alright… Tailed Beasts, speak with me!** "

Kurama promptly passed out as he put all his spiritual energy into the meeting.

[X-X-X]

Inside Kurama's mind…

" **Twice in twenty four hours? What happened** _ **THIS**_ **time, Kurama?!** " Shukaku asked in irritation.

Kurama was too focused on something else to answer, counting the other beasts with his fingers:

" **Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, and Chomei are all accounted for…** **Only Gyuki is absent. So that's what happened.** "

" _ **WHAT**_ **happened?!** " All other beasts shouted in unison.

" **My brothers, I come with even more bad news… Gyuki has passed away.** **His absence from this meeting confirmed this.** "

" **Well, who killed him, Kurama?!** " Son Goku roared. " **The humans must be at it again!** "

Kurama shook his head. " **I don't think so.** **The only humans capable of killing Gyuki at this time are Sasuke Uchiha, the Fourth Raikage, former Jinchuriki Killer B, and the Third Tsuchikage… I have been with Sasuke ever since our previous meeting so he's innocent, and I can confirm the Fourth Raikage and the Third Tsuchikage were nowhere near Turtle Island, Gyuki's last known location, so they could not have done it either… and Killer B murdering his own partner is plain out of character!** "

" **Could it have been one of us?** " Saiken meekly asked, visibly disturbing all the others. " **Even a Bijuudama from a weaker Tailed Beast could have killed Gyuki…** "

Isobu gave Matatabi a sharp glare. " **That's right!** **I distinctly recall that you killed Saiken and crippled me nineteen years ago, Matatabi!** "

" **I had no control over myself!** **Yugito… She was but a** _ **kitten**_ **when it happened, but she was still strong enough to completely dominate my will! She was the** _ **youngest to ever clear the Falls of Truth,**_ **even younger than Naruto and Sasuke!** "

" **Matatabi is innocent!** " Kurama shouted. " **As are** _ **the rest of you;**_ **I can sense no evil from any of our hearts. Now, we shall stop** _ **accusing**_ **each other! Father Hagaromo would have** _ **never**_ **wanted such a thing!** "

" **Maybe it was that Jashin fellow you warned us about last time.** " Kokuo said.

" **Yeah… Wasn't he the one that killed** _ **you**_ **almost** **150 years ago, Kurama?** " Chomei added. " **If he was strong enough to kill** _ **you**_ **, he would certainly be strong enough to kill** _ **Gyuki**_ **…** "

" **It's possible, but I doubt it. Jashin's preferred method of killing seems to be stealing his victims' souls and sealing them in the Shinigami… And I can state** _ **from experience**_ **that a Tailed Beast's soul cannot be completely stored in there! If Jashin were to have taken Gyuki's soul, he would have been** _ **split in two**_ **like I was, and his remaining half would be with us right now!** "

Shukaku tilted his head up, lost in thought. " **Then what could have happened to him?** "

" **I… don't know.** " Kurama admitted. " **For now, our meeting is over. Dismissed!** "

On cue, the seven other Tailed Beasts left Kurama's consciousness, and moments later Kurama woke up in the physical world in Naruto's body, explaining the meeting to his fellow passengers.

[X-X-X]

Several hours earlier…

 _Dammit… Me and my big mouth… Now Jashin's going to free his follower and kill three more people…_

Karin's thoughts were overwhelmed with dread as Jashin confronted a purple-clad woman with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, a young man with a Hidden Leaf flak jacket and medium-length dark hair also tied in a ponytail, and a fat brunet wearing a red sweater adorned with pieces of silver armour. Behind them was a cart that had several wooden boxes stacked on top of each other. That was the source of the evil chakra Karin identified as her mother's killer. Karin supposed these three managed to chop the killer into several pieces and kept each piece in its own separate box for safe transport to the Hidden Leaf Village where the killer would be buried or have the fragments scattered over the world. But she knew whatever tactics they used to defeat her mother's killer wouldn't work against Jashin; he could reattach himself by going into what Sakura called Puppet Mode.

And because of that, she feared for their lives.

"Don't fight! Run away! You can't win!" she shouted without hearing herself.

"Now, now… is that any way to speak about _your father?_ " Jashin replied to Karin in front of the trio, who all seemed confused. But even more than that, they seemed angry.

"Parents don't bind their children with chains…" Choji said.

"So you aren't going to believe that ruse anymore…" Jashin grinned. "Then I shall reveal the truth: I am Lord Jashin, the _**God of Destruction!**_ I am here to rescue my devout follower from your mortal hands… He has served me _too well_ to be treated like _**cattle**_ , no better than mere deer."

Ino's eyes went white with rage. "Deer… your 'follower' _**killed**_ a bunch of deer on the way out of his grave! Let alone what he did to Asuma-Sensei!"

Jashin laughed. "So his massacres have fuelled others with anger and despair as well! He has been more _**inspirational**_ than I thought! I simply must make him _**my**_ _**high priest!**_ "

"What the hell are you blabbing on about?!"

Ino's words accompanied shaking with fury. In a moment's notice Shikamaru put a hand on her shoulder, distracting her and putting her attention on him. Then he gripped Asuma's trench knives at his waist, his hands trembling:

"Listen, Ino, Choji… It doesn't matter what we say or do. We've fought his kind before; they can't be reasoned with. All we can do is stop him before he kills anyone else… Now!"

Suddenly, Shikamaru threw both knives at once. One aimed for Jashin's head while the other headed towards his abdomen, just a little behind the first one. Jashin ducked underneath the first one as the second one hit him. Jashin was unperturbed by mere flesh wounds, but he could no longer move after that; a shadow on the ground followed Shikamaru's second knife and it was now connected to Jashin's own.

Shikamaru smirked. " _Shadow Possession_ success."

The Nara's shadow extended up Jashin's body and out to his right arm, forcing it open, leaving the bonds tying Karin to Jashin exposed. "Now, Ino!"

Without a word, Ino placed her hands together and moved her arms out, as if targeting Jashin with the space between her fingers. The next moment, Ino's body went limp and Karin sensed her chakra disappear.

 _I see… she separated her mind from her body, like the Mind Transfer Jutsu… This must be Ino Yamanaka, Sakura's friend…_ Karin thought.

"Your turn, Choji!" Jashin said as he looked back, confusing Karin.

 _I get it… Choji sneaked behind Jashin while he was focused on the pineapple-head's knives, and Choji caught the one that missed… For a fatass he's pretty stealthy. And since Ino's taken over Jashin's body, now he's going to…_

In the following instant, Choji jumped out from behind a tree with the first trench knife and sliced apart the loose chains connecting Karin to Jashin. They broke and Karin had her senses restored to normal, albeit her movements were still restrained by the chains around her. At the very least, she was now able to hear everyone's voices.

At the same time, Shikamaru released his hold on Jashin's body, his job finished. He then tilted his head in confusion as he kept an eye on Ino's still unconscious body:

"Umm… Ino? You're supposed to release the _Mind Transfer_ now… So Choji can flatten him with his _Super Expansion Jutsu_ without you getting hurt, like we did with Hidan… Are you even listening to me?"

"Oh, I've been listening alright… _intently._ "

A smirk crept onto Jashin's face as he shot a chain out of his back and stabbed through Choji's right foot, the Akimichi having turned bigger with the _Super Expansion Jutsu_. Choji immediately returned to normal size and Karin sensed his chakra disappear.

Jashin walked over to Ino's body and gently caressed her face. "You've provided a lot of valuable information, such as Hidan… the name of _**my high priest.**_ "

"Choji…" Shikamaru rushed to the Akimichi's position in fear of what Ino… no, _Jashin_ , did to him.

"Don't bother…" Karin said, prompting Shikamaru to face her. "It's no use, he's dead… And so is Ino, somehow…"

Shikamaru started shivering. "What are you saying?!" he asked. In that moment, he noticed Jashin fondling Ino's lifeless body as quickly turned to face him once more. "What are you doing with Ino?!"

Jashin frowned. "Oh… just _reminiscing…_ Before I ascended to godhood, I did battle with a couple of ninja out to defeat me, though they did assume me to be my son. Kamina Uzumaki, the _**detested**_ son of the woman who usurped the leadership of my clan from me… and his _lover_ , Yoko Yamanaka…"

"Yoko… _**Yamanaka?!**_ " Karin shouted.

 _Kamina was in love with a Yamanaka? … But then any of his descendants wouldn't be pure-blooded… That means I'm a descendent of my namesake… and so are Nagato and Mito…_ she thought.

"So you recognized Ino as a Yamanaka and figured out she could use the Mind Transfer Jutsu…" Shikamaru inferred.

"Not just that… Yoko and this Ino here… they look so similar… so similarly _**beautiful…**_ " Jashin coddled Ino even tighter. "My own lover was _atrocious_ compared to Yoko. Binding and gagging her did her appearance _a favour_ , all things considered. I was almost convinced Ino was Yoko's direct descendant… but the hair colour is wrong. Yes, Kamina's red and Yoko's yellow make _**orange…**_ Only _orange-haired Yamanaka_ could possibly be Yoko's descendants… But still, the resemblance is uncanny, and if it weren't for _**The Ten Commandments of Jashin**_ , I would be having _quite_ a time with this _marvelous_ body."

 _Orange-haired Yamanaka… there was one of those at the Five Kage Summit. Danzo's bodyguard… He was Kamina and Yoko's descendant?!_ Karin thought.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru's shivering stopped and his brow furrowed, the shinobi now filled with tranquil fury. He then spoke barely above a whisper:

"Where's Ino's mind right now?"

Jashin removed himself from Ino's body and turned to face Shikamaru. "In _**My Holy Ground**_ , of course. I didn't even need to do a thing. Normally I need to touch someone to send them to _**My Holy Ground**_ , but her spirit came into contact with my body all on its own! And so she flew to _**My Holy Ground…**_ And I _pretended_ like I was caught. That was my _intention_ the moment I saw Yoko's likeness in that _**angel…**_ _You've been playing into my hands the whole time._ "

Shikamaru's and Karin's jaws dropped in horror.

"The whole time?!" Karin shouted. "So you _meant_ for me to be released?!"

"I can fight more freely when I have two hands, and you still can't move."

As soon as he finished responding to Karin, Jashin removed the knife from his stomach and threw it back at Shikamaru, still bloodied. Shikamaru just narrowly dodged it; the knife scraped the left shoulder pad of his flak jacket and left just a tiny amount of blood. The only reason Shikamaru didn't completely avoid the attack was because he caught Jashin in the _Shadow Possession_ Jutsu yet again.

"The rook and bishop may have been taken… but it's far from checkmate." Shikamaru declared as his shadow expanded to engulf Jashin's entire body save his face.

Before that could be covered, Jashin's eyes widened with a twinkle and his mouth made a disturbingly wide grin, which erupted into a scream:

" _ **BOOM!**_ "

Reacting to Jashin's screech, the blood on Shikamaru's flak jacket exploded, taking out a chunk of Shikamaru's left shoulder… and with it his mind, as Karin sensed his chakra disappear.

"You got him… with your blood?!" Karin asked in panic.

"When I say I can send a spirit to _**My Holy Ground**_ by touching them, _any part of my body_ will suffice. That includes those not currently attached… like _my blood._ " Jashin explained, his wide grin reducing a small smirk. "That pink-haired girl and the snake were lucky their cuts _didn't make me bleed_."

"When you said they were _playing into your hands…_ just how much of the battle was planned?"

" _ **Everything**_ went according to my design, _My Chosen Vessel._ First, when the knives were thrown, I deliberately dodged one and got hit with the other. I expected the big boy to go after the one that missed while the angel tried the Mind Transfer. I didn't expect the shadow, but it mattered not; I could have overridden his control any time by channeling _**My Holy Ground**_. I only chose not to since I had everything else under control; the angel removed herself from the battle and the tub of lard made so much noise retrieving the knife I knew exactly where he was. The only reason _you_ didn't is because I sealed your hearing away… Nonetheless, I pretended to be the angel and got the fatass to loosen my hold on you, getting rid of him once I was finished _manipulating_ the Nara man into disclosing my follower's name… Then I threw my blood at the Nara with the knife I _**chose**_ to get hit with and took him out after I had my fun with Yoko's look-alike… Yes, it'd be accurate to say this battle was decided _the second it started._ "

"Oh my god…"

Karin realized for the first time just how deadly Jashin's intelligence was. In the previous battles she witnessed, the only tactic he relied on was letting the opponent think they had won, and then surprising them with Puppet Mode when their guard was down. But this battle was different. Jashin used his prior experience and his analytical skills to outwit his enemies, defeating them _without once resorting to Puppet Mode_. Karin could only think of two reasons why Jashin's competence outside Puppet Mode had risen so quickly. Either he was getting overconfident from his victories and thought he didn't need his only strategic manoeuvre to win anymore… or he was in trouble and forced not to rely on his trump card. If it was the former, then Jashin had a weakness Karin could exploit, and he wasn't as dangerous as she once thought. If it was the latter… then Jashin was more dangerous than she could have possibly imagined.

Jashin flushed in ecstasy. "Yes… I _**am**_ your god… I am delighted that you finally recognize me as such!"

Karin couldn't tell if Jashin was being sarcastic or if he really meant it. Either way, she had the sudden insatiable urge to punch something.

From her position, Karin saw Jashin unload the cart Sakura's supposed team was travelling with and opened all the boxes. He then put together the flattened form of a man, with a triple-bladed red scythe connected by a rope to a black spire beside him. The next moment, Jashin used the scythe to cut open one of the flat man's arms and licked the blood off the scythe. Jashin's skin turned all black save for a skeletal pattern, which Karin recognized from when she stopped him from killing Sasuke using _Jashin's Ceremonial Killing_. But rather than make a circle in the ground, Jashin made several hand seals, and suddenly the flattened man expanded to what Karin thought was his ordinary depth. The newly restored man opened his eyes to see a form he was used to seeing… but only from himself:

"What the fuck?! Another follower exists?! I thought I was the only one since the Purge! And how did you _inflate_ me anyway?!"

"At ease, my devout follower."

Jashin smiled as he spoke. This smile was kinder and warmer than any Karin had seen from him before, save for when she first met him and he was pretending to be her father. "Hidan… you have served me well in my absence. I shall reward your devotion to _The Way of Jashin_ by proclaiming you _**My High Priest**_ in the new world I shall create, second in authority _only to me._ "

"Wait… so… you are…"

It took Hidan a few seconds to connect the dots, but the moment he did he sprang up from his laid down position and hugged the man who saved him:

" _ **LORD JASHIN!**_ You have manifested in the flesh! To announce me as your _**High Priest…**_ I am too honoured for words… Wait a minute…"

Hidan's mood changed into that of confusion when he saw Karin bound. He let go of Jashin, ran up to Karin, and crouched near her to confirm something. And the moment he got as good a look as he'd get of Karin's face, his confusion transformed into an extreme bewilderment:

"How the fuck are you still alive, _**Kagura?!**_ I _killed_ you… You were my very first sacrifice to Lord Jashin!"

Karin spat to the ground beneath her. "You made the same mistake as him… My name isn't Kagura; it's Karin. Kagura was my mom… and you killed her! _**You killed my mother, you monster!**_ "

Karin's hair began glowing again, though it quickly reverted to normal. It had an effect on the area regardless, however; Hidan stood back up as his puzzled expression turned into one of pure rage as he pointed at Jashin:

"You… you're no god of mine! You violated two of _**The Ten Commandments of Jashin!**_ Commandment number 2: _Thou Shalt Never Take Prisoner Without Intent to Kill_ , and Commandment number 10: _Thou Shalt Kill Anyone You See With Shining Red Hair, For That Is a Mark of the Devil!_ "

Jashin took a deep breath. "Relax, my child… you should read the Commandments over again when you get the chance. The Second Commandment was written so that there is no sin in _taking prisoner if you do intend to kill,_ and I do _**indeed**_ intend to kill this woman once I am finished with her. My current vessel is growing weak, you see, and to remain in this plane of existence, I need a new one. That is Karin. She is our _**messiah**_ , the one who will allow our path to usher in a new era of glory… by offering her body to me so that I may continue to exist!"

"But what happens when _her_ body fails you, My Lord?!"

"I shall require a _new_ messiah… a child of hers ideally, to preserve the powers that her bloodline will provide. When that time comes… Yes, you shall be _the father of this woman's children!_ That is one duty required of the _**High Priest of Jashin!**_ "

Karin shuddered in total disgust at the idea of her mother's murderer and her father's murderer having a child together, and using her body as the breeding ground. That image grossed her out more than anything in the world ever had before; nothing she saw from Orochimaru came close.

"Isn't that violating the Sixth Commandment, My Lord?" Hidan objected, perplexing Karin. "It says: _Thou Shalt Not Have Sex for Pleasure; It Ruins the Carnal Joy of the Ceremonial Killing._ "

"But it will _**not**_ be sex for pleasure! Reproduction for the sake of my eternal existence? That is sex _**for necessity!**_ "

 _Oh fuck you, Jashin… I bet you wrote the dogma of your religion with these sorts of loopholes on purpose!_ Karin thought.

Hidan bowed in front of his god. "That is true… Forgive me my insolence, My Lord! I shall fornicate with this bitch as many times as necessary for your ideal vessel!"

"That's my High Priest! Now onward, to _**My Holy Ground!**_ "

"You've been referring to that quite a bit lately…" Karin interjected. "What the fuck is it?"

Hidan stood up and promptly stomped on Karin's head. "To use such foul language against God is blasphemy! Show some respect, wench!"

 _A potty-mouth calling someone else out for profanity… what a hypocrite! Suigetsu would hate your guts almost as much as I do!_ Karin thought.

"In spite of my High Priest's opinion, I shall provide an answer." Jashin stroked his chin in arrogance. " _ **My Holy Ground**_ is the place where my _Divine Powers_ reside. The battles I have entered recently have depleted my _Divine Power_ by a fair margin. I shall perform the _Jashin Succession Technique_ at the place on this plane closest to _**My Holy Ground**_ , so my _Divine Power_ will be at its _**maximum…**_ just in case any meddling _Uchiha_ tries to interfere."

 _So it was the latter. Despite all appearances of invincibility, Jashin's almost out of juice for his Puppet Mode… which means he's falling back on his other talents to get by. He's cornered. And when someone is cornered… there's no telling what they're capable of…_ Karin figured in her thoughts, horrified.

"Uchiha… isn't that _Itachi's_ clan?" Hidan asked. "He was the member of my old organization that I _**looked up to the most!**_ The way he killed _every last member of his clan_ , leaving only little Sasuke alive to wallow in total despair… It inspires me on the job, My Lord! He'd make a _**wonderful follower**_ _ **!**_ "

Karin grinned. _Hah, joke's on you, asshole… Itachi's dead, and not nearly as evil as you thought he was… And you're such a slime ball you're not worth correcting!_

"Itachi is not who I'm worried about… it's Sasuke." Jashin explained, Hidan raising an eyebrow. "He has acquired an eye that lets him see my _Divine Power_ , something I once thought to be impossible. He is a _**demon**_ that needs an exorcism as soon as I enter _**My Chosen Vessel**_ and acquire her sensing abilities. I stand my greatest chance at defeating that demon at _**My Holy Ground**_ ,so that is where we shall go!"

With that, he picked Karin up and started running further east, with Hidan following as soon as he finished collecting his weapons.

[X-X-X]

When it approached dawn the following day, Jashin, Hidan, and Karin were nearing the east coast of the Land of Fire. They were still concealed by forest from anyone looking for them from the sky, but that did not stop someone from catching up to them on foot. Hearing the footsteps coming, Jashin – whose Curse Transformation had worn off since recruiting Hidan the previous sunset – and Hidan turned around to face their pursuer.

"Stop right there, Fools ya fools!" the pursuer shouted.

"That rapping is getting on my nerves, seriously!" Hidan complained. "Wait… do I see a _**Hidden Cloud**_ headband? I do! So you want _revenge_ for taking the Two-Tails away from your village? That's too bad; you can't kill me!"

"That was something I didn't know… But now that I do, Imma put on a show! I'll take you both down… Go!"

At the end of his rhyme, Killer B launched forward at nearly unfathomable speed with his right arm out and hardened, covered in lightning. He moved too fast for Hidan to react, popping his head off and splattering some of his blood on B's right arm, but Jashin noticed him coming and dodged to B's left while throwing Karin away even further to his left. Within moments, B and Jashin had their backs to each other; however, B pivoted counter-clockwise 180 degrees, switched from his right arm to his left, and launched himself at Jashin too fast for him to turn around. He beheaded the god with some blood on his left arm to show for it. In the next second B pivoted again, picking Karin up and putting her behind a tree.

"Aren't you… Killer B? Former Eight-Tails Jinchuriki?" Karin asked.

"That rhyme was worth an A! Even better than Sasuke!" B clapped hysterically, Karin turning her head away in embarrassment. "But damn am _**I**_ the one who's hot, using the _Perfect Pivot Combo Lariat!_ "

B's singing distracted Karin from immediately spotting a very grave problem. The moment she noticed it, she let him know with wide eyes:

"You have… blood on your arms…"

"Don't you worry about no bloody mess!"

B bit his own right thumb and slammed it on the ground away from her, conjuring an absolutely massive smoke cloud. What appeared when the smoke cleared was a form that sent a slight chill down Karin's spine.

"Gyuki will destroy the enemy while I save the damsel in distress!"

On B's command, Gyuki started charging a Bijuudama as B moved to take Karin further away. Karin thought that perhaps B and Gyuki could defeat Jashin and Hidan and save her without Sasuke's assistance… but then she remembered Jashin's previous battle, and B's condition, and all hope left her thoughts.

" _ **BOOM!**_ "

A scream that haunted Karin's thoughts echoed in the forest, and in the next instant the blood on B's left arm exploded right in front of her. The arm was wrecked beyond repair; even Karin healing him would not have been enough to salvage it, not that she could do any healing in her current position. As Karin gravely expected, B's chakra disappeared moments later, which distracted Gyuki enough that he stopped charging the Bijuudama.

On the other side of the tree, Jashin used _Puppet Mode_ only to reattach his head, and walked over to Hidan to do the same with his physically.

"How did you do _that_ , Lord Jashin?!" Hidan asked in excitement.

"Just one of the many _Secret Battle Arts of Jashin…_ I was sure you'd do it yourself. _Blood Style: One's Own Blood Detonation…_ You should have known this from reading _The Way of Jashin_ thoroughly…"

"Please forgive me, My Lord! In my haste to become your follower, I only ended up reading _**half**_ of _The Way of Jashin!_ I assumed the _Secret Battle Arts of Jashin_ referred to the _Ceremonial Killing,_ and used it exclusively in combat, going along with the Fourth Commandment: _Thou Shalt Always Use the Secret Battle Arts of Jashin Whenever Convenient…_ You're saying there are more?"

Jashin smacked his own forehead. "The _Ceremonial Killing_ is not even a _**Secret Battle Art**_ in the first place! The _Ceremonial Killing_ is only meant to be used when the enemy has already been _immobilized and defeated…_ the victims are meant to be _**defenseless!**_ Having to take an enemy's blood and ingest it, then use your own blood to form a seal on the ground, and _**then**_ impale yourself while still standing in it, all _just_ to kill one enemy in the heat of battle when you might be outnumbered… _**NO WONDER YOU WERE SO EASILY DEFEATED TWICE!**_ "

Jashin managed to calm himself down by looking up to the mourning Eight-Tailed Ox, grinning as an idea formed in his head. "Never mind that rant just now… Allow me to be more _constructive_ in my teachings. I will show you some of the _Secret Battle Arts of Jashin_ that you failed to read… Since they cannot be completely sent to _**My Holy Ground**_ , this Tailed Beast right here shall be the sacrifice to show you how a _**true**_ Jashinist fights!"

At that moment, Jashin sent a chain out from his left hand, which narrowly scraped Hidan's chest. Upon the chain returning he ingested some of Hidan's blood on the tip, entering his Curse Transformation.

"The first _**Secret Battle Art**_ I shall teach you… is this!"

Jashin made a few hand seals, and finished by separating a Tiger hand seal into both its halves and crossing the hands past each other, left over right. Suddenly, the wound on Hidan's chest expanded a little, and a surge of blood came flowing out of Hidan's body and into a large sphere in front of Jashin, turning Hidan into a fully aware emaciated husk.

"Those who drink from the _**Holy Grail of Jashin**_ have access to the Curse Transformation… and a new chakra element: _**Blood Style!**_ It allows you to manipulate your own blood when in your normal state, and the blood of those that cause your Curse Transformation while transformed. What I just used on you was _Blood Style: Complete Siphon_. It removes all the blood from your target to do with as you please until the transformation expires. It would be fatal in most circumstances, but Jashinists can survive all the blood being removed from their bodies."

Jashin then split the ball of blood into five, and turned each smaller ball into a shape resembling a weapon: a curved sword, a spear, a shield, a whip, and a cannon.

"Depending on your own elemental affinity, the attributes of your blood constructs change. Wind affinity means sharper constructs, like this sword. Lightning affinity means greater piercing power, such as this spear. Earth affinity means more durability, befitting a shield. Water affinity means more flexibility, for this whip. And Fire affinity means more explosive power, to shoot bullets from a cannon. As for my current body, it is gifted in two elements: _Wind and Lightning…_ so it calls for this!"

Jashin turned the five constructs back into a single ball then split it in half, creating two straight swords, grabbing one with each hand. "Two blades with tips for stabbing… perfect for this body."

Satisfied with his construct, Jashin looked up to Gyuki's head. "Hey you… _filthy beast._ Would you like to join that _**weakling**_ I just killed? Challenge me, if you dare!"

" **I have a name…** " Gyuki said as he snapped his attention from B's body to Jashin, trembling with anger. The trembling was strong enough to knock Karin down from the tree she was propped up on and made her fall, making her face Jashin's direction.

 _Two swords completely dark red? Where did Jashin get those? … And why is Hidan looking as frail as Nagato's corpse? Did Jashin… suck the blood out of Hidan's body and mould it into those blades? Is it even possible?_ Karin thought.

" **My name…** _**IS GYUKI!**_ "

The Tailed Beast gathered chakra near his mouth. Karin could tell Gyuki was planning to fire a Bijuudama again… and so could Jashin, who proceeded to fire a dozen or so large _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ toward Gyuki's head. They strangled him and forced his mouth wide open, his Bijuudama losing its charge.

Next, Jashin let his body follow his chains up to Gyuki's head, then let half his chains go, swinging himself up behind Gyuki's head. He slashed at Gyuki's mouth with his left sword on his way up; a smile-like scar was carved into Gyuki's left jaw. When Jashin reached the apex of his swing he let the other half of his chains go, slamming Gyuki's mouth shut. The Tailed Beast winced in pain.

During the moment of vulnerability, Jashin spun in midair several times and stabbed Gyuki in the back of the neck with both his swords, charged with lightning to boost piercing power, the spinning boosting it even further.

Gyuki let out a scream, but he didn't make a sound; Jashin punctured his vocal chords with one of his blades. The other one, it seems, pierced Gyuki's trachea… for the Eight-Tailed Ox stopped breathing and Karin sensed his chakra disappear no more than a minute later. Jashin slid down Gyuki's body and returned to Hidan, the blades now back to a single orb which Jashin suspended in midair at his back.

 _Dark-coloured balls that can shape-shift according to the user's will? That technique of Jashin's… It reminds me of… those Truth-Seeking Balls Obito and Madara used! Was this technique based on that one?!_ Karin thought as she witnessed Jashin's triumphant return from the battle.

"This slaughter… So nostalgic!" Jashin shouted. "I once needed _an entire clan_ to assist me in killing a Tailed Beast, but no more. Thanks to the _Secret Battle Arts of Jashin_ , I can now slay such a titan _**all by myself!**_ "

At that moment, Jashin pointed both his hands in Hidan's direction, and the blood flowed back into his body as seamlessly as it came out, just in time for Jashin's Curse Transformation to end.

"And with the proper training… so can you!" Jashin added. "The _Secret Battle Arts of Jashin_ are so powerful that a master of them can kill a Tailed Beast single-handed in under a minute, as I have just demonstrated!"

Hidan freaked out in ecstasy. "Such power… and it can be _**mine?!**_ I… shall follow you forever, Lord Jashin! So I can destroy just as efficiently as you! To replicate this feat I witnessed here today… that is my goal!"

"If you wish to do that, then there is something I have yet to teach you, for a single life time is not quite long enough to master all the _Secret Battle Arts of Jashin._ " The self-appointed God of Destruction smirked as he picked Karin back up. "The lesson I teach in the final chapter of _The Way of Jashin…_ how to escape the one flaw of our immortality and remain _**everlasting**_ _ **:**_ the _Jashin Succession Technique_! … But not now. We must first head onward to _**My Holy Ground!**_ "


	48. Chapter 47: Jashin Succession Technique

With Sakura, Hinata, and Kurama with him, Sasuke finally made it to the Hidden Whirlpool Village. As Odaka descended, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a sense of dread come over him; he flew by this very place on the way to his hunt's first target: _Naked Swordsman_. When he did, Karin excitedly wanted to come here and study her ancestors' ruins. He denied her request on account of pragmatism - though in truth he merely refused to enjoy himself out of self-loathing – and instead promised to take her here when the mission was over. But Sasuke's reasons for coming here now were much more serious. He was here to put an end to an evil god he carelessly unleashed on the world, to save the souls of everyone said god killed once he did so… and to protect Karin from a body theft. And that scared part of him; he realized just how dire things have gotten since his journey started.

 _Karin… I hope your body hasn't been stolen yet…_

Odaka landed inside the village as Sasuke prayed. All four passengers then disembarked and Hinata approached Sasuke with the intent on combining their chakra and Dojutsu to look for the Shinigami's dimension, but something distracted him:

"What's that?"

Sasuke noticed a large blue wisp in the form of a tall man standing next to them about ten feet away. He approached it and spotted another detail about the wisp: the outline matched Kagemaru's body proportions exactly. "Kagemaru? Is that your mind?" He asked. The spirit couldn't answer.

"What's going on, Sasuke-kun?" Hinata wondered. "What are you seeing?"

"I think I'm seeing… Kagemaru's disembodied spirit. Karin's father… But I thought Kagemaru's spirit was forced out of his body by Jashin with no traces of physical energy. He should have gone to the Pure World."

Sakura suddenly ran up to the spirit and crouched down, pointing to a tag on the ground with two spots of blood on it. "Look at this, everybody! There's blood on this tag!"

Sasuke followed Sakura's finger with his eyes, and moments later he saw several tags of the same kind scattered around in a circle. "So that's what this is… This is the barrier that Orochimaru told me about. The one Jashin tried to release in Kagemaru's body but couldn't. The barrier's been weakened to the point of invisibility over nineteen years without reinforcement, but it's still present… and it's keeping Kagemaru's soul in the living world."

" **I… recognize this tag.** " Kurama said. " **Kushina saw this when she was here nineteen years ago and tried to break the seal herself. That's why there are two spots of blood on that tag. One from Kagemaru's body and one from Kushina's, and they both failed.** "

"Because they were brother and sister." Sasuke added. "Both of them were pure-blooded Uzumaki, but neither of them were Kagura Dynasty. And only _a pure-blooded member of the Kagura Dynasty_ can break this seal tag."

Sakura put a finger over her lips. "But how did Kagemaru and Lady Kushina not know how the seal worked? For some reason, Kagemaru's memories _weren't enough_ for Jashin to learn he couldn't break the seal, and Lady Kushina tried it without knowing who else attempted it and failed too. It seems like they were both under the impression they could break the seal."

"Come to think of it… that _is_ strange." Sasuke then closed his eyes and smiled. "Only a brilliant mind like yours could pick up details like that, Sakura…"

The pink-haired Kunoichi began blushing at the compliment.

"Bad news, everyone!" Hinata screamed. They all looked in her direction and saw her Byakugan was active and she was sweating. "I see… Karin-san tied up in chains, being held in one arm by… Sir Jashin, yes… and in the other arm… I don't know, but they have a scythe with three red blades at their back… Sir Jashin is flying the other two to this island!"

"Triple-bladed scythe…" Sakura gasped in horror. "That's Hidan! Jashin managed to free Hidan from Team Asuma and make his way here! … Oh no… _Ino…_ "

Sakura looked down in grief.

"Shouldn't B have intercepted them?" Sasuke asked.

Kurama frowned. " **Maybe he did.** **If Killer B and Gyuki formed a summoning contract, then that explains how Gyuki died… Killer B intercepted Jashin and summoned Gyuki into battle, then Jashin took Killer B's soul and the grief would distract Gyuki, giving Jashin a chance to kill him** _ **without**_ **taking his soul, having witnessed my own** _ **incomplete**_ **soul enter the Shinigami's dimension seventeen years ago from the inside.** "

"Dammit…" Sasuke's eyes narrowed in anger. He quickly shook it off, however, and shuffled behind Hinata, placing his hand gently on her back. "Let's combine our eyes now. We need to see where the point of connection is, and where Jashin is going with Karin and Hidan."

Hinata nodded and focused most of her chakra in her back. Sasuke in turn sent most of his chakra to his hand, intent on connecting his with Hinata's. After a second or so, Sasuke and Hinata connected their chakra and Sasuke's trans-dimensional vision from the Rinnegan was empowered with the telescopic range of Hinata's Byakugan, turning the Rinnegan's colour from purple to white and causing the veins around his left eye to bulge. The strain this put on Sasuke caused him to close his Sharingan on instinct; for now, the only eye he could see out of was the _Rinne Byakugan_.

In a few seconds, Sasuke's range of vision expanded to a level he had difficulty comprehending. He could see almost the entire island, scoping for any signs of the same Shinigami Energy he saw make up Jashin's cross and partially compose the Shinigami Mask. Eventually he found two sources of it; one small, and one massive.

The small one was the cross at Jashin's back a little ways off the island in the air, in its _**X**_ position but significantly thinner than he remembered it being. Sasuke thought that perhaps the Shinigami Energy at Jashin's back composing the portal the inner half uses to control him in Puppet Mode - and to take away enemies' souls - didn't regenerate on its own and instead needed to be 'refilled' in the Shinigami's dimension. The second, and much larger source, was an _inferno_ of Shinigami Energy erupting from a crater in the ground, surrounded on all sides by forest and close to the southern edge of the island. There was no doubt in Sasuke's mind: that was the point of connection between this world and the Shinigami's dimension. And beyond that, it was the location where Jashin decided to steal Karin's body. That was confirmed within the next thirty seconds when Jashin turned to fly in precisely the direction needed to travel to that point in a straight line.

"Shit… He figured us out." Sasuke said. "He deduced we'd try to assail him from the inside, so he decided to steal Karin's body in the one place where we can't intercept him. To get to Jashin's _inner_ half, we have to go through the _outer_ half… at full power, with Hidan as support, and with Karin as a hostage."

At that moment, Sasuke started smirking. "Luckily, there is _one way_ we can beat both halves and Hidan at once."

"Don't you _**dare**_ sacrifice Karin again," Sakura replied. "I'll never forgive you if you do. What you did to her was _worse_ than anything you did to me."

Sasuke shook his head. "That wasn't what I was thinking at all. The _Jashin Succession Technique_. We have one chance to _interrupt it_ in such a way that Jashin and Hidan _can't do anything_ , Karin is _removed from all danger…_ and we risk _the least amount of life_."

Everyone was quiet.

" **So what's the plan?** " Kurama eventually asked.

"All right… the plan is this…"

As Sasuke explained his plan, one thought was on his mind:

 _It's not the way either of us could have possibly imagined it, Karin… but it looks like I really will keep my promise to you._

[X-X-X]

In due time, Jashin let Karin and Hidan down next to the crater in the middle of the forest at the south end of Whirlpool Island. Hidan stood up and watched as Jashin forced Karin to stand, still completely bound by chains, and tied Karin up in another layer of chains. These ones stuck to the ground and kept her standing up, except for one chain which remained connected to Jashin himself at the heart. Furthermore, Jashin placed a barrier similar to the one he made in the Hidden Leaf Village around the area nearby.

Jashin grinned in triumph as he gazed at his barrier. "There… an extra precaution to make sure no one interferes. Anyone who tries to come in will have their souls sent to _**My Holy Ground…**_ Hidan! Pay careful attention to what I do, for this shall be the _Jashin Succession Technique!_ "

" _ **Yes**_ , My Lord!"

Hidan made an about face and looked squarely at Jashin, intent on grasping the entirety of the technique for himself. To live a true eternal life directly serving his god… that was a most pleasurable existence for Hidan. To that end, he would watch Jashin and his captive carefully, being as dutiful of a student as he possibly could.

"First of all, you need to have some sort of rope connecting your current body and your next one with your chakra channeled into it. The cord connecting your scythe and spire will suffice, since the weapons most Jashinists used were designed with inspiration from my old clan's _Adamantine Sealing Chains_. But you cannot hold it in your hands; you will need those for seals later."

Jashin then walked up to Karin and scratched her upper lip with his fingernails. He licked Karin's blood off his fingernails and entered his Curse Transformation.

"Next, you ingest your new body's blood to transform, and while you _are_ transformed…"

Jashin paused to force Karin's mouth open with chains and immediately afterwards, stabbed himself in the foot with more chains and fed Karin the blood he drew from his self-mutilation:

"… You must have your new body ingest some of your blood as well. Your blood will act as a _magnet_ for your mind; once you've performed the jutsu needed to sever your mind from your body, the blood in the new body will attract your mind so long as you are transformed and pull it along the rope, so you cannot dawdle with the technique. If your Curse Transformation ends before the final step, then it will do the exact opposite of making sure you live forever… it will _**kill you**_ right then and there."

"But we _**can't**_ be killed, Lord Jashin!" Hidan objected.

"Our immortality simply entails that out consciousness, our _spiritual energy_ , never leaves this plane of existence to enter the Pure World, no matter what happens to our bodies. If our body and mind are separated, and then the body _ceases to exist,_ then we will remain a spirit haunting the world of the living until the time limit for the _Ceremonial Killing_ expires, living only as a _**ghost**_ in every sense of the word. And you risk that happening if you take too long with the _Jashin Succession Technique._ Now if you don't mind… I have the final step to show you."

Jashin jumped back a few feet, the chain connecting Karin and his heart loosening to keep Karin in position.

"The final step… is to use a jutsu known as _Blood Style: Full Body Transmutation_ \- turning your entire body into _non-transformed blood_ \- and then using _Blood Style: One's Own Blood Detonation_ to make _your own body explode,_ forcibly ejecting your transformed mind from the body. The mind will then be attracted to the _transformed blood_ the new body has ingested and will travel along the rope to get there. Your mind will have no physical energy of its own, so it will be limited to the physical energy from _the chakra in the rope_ for movement. In that sense, the blood entering the new body is not a _**requirement…**_ but it does make the process _faster._ After that, all that remains is to defeat the previous owner of the body and force their mind out."

Jashin made several hand seals as he explained, ending with the Snake seal and a shout:

" _ **Blood Style: Full Body Transmutation!**_ "

Just as Jashin told, in that moment his whole body fell in on itself and turned into a dark red liquid, save for the _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ around Karin and the one that was connected to his heart, that end now lying in the pool of blood. One second later, without a sound the blood erupted and exploded in several directions. Hidan figured Jashin used _Blood Style: One's Own Blood Detonation_ and did not scream only because his body no longer had the means to make a voice; his mind making the command was all that was needed. Hidan stared in wonder as Jashin was about to challenge someone for ownership of a new body… but Hidan couldn't fathom the possibility of which body that was.

During Hidan's stare he blinked only once, shortly after _One's Own Blood Detonation_. Before he blinked, the other side of the chain had a bound Karin. _After_ he blinked, two people took Karin's place: a woman with long dark hair wearing a light purple sweater with white sleeves, and a one-armed man with black hair wearing a blue high-collar t-shirt with his hand on the woman's back. This man only had their left eye open, but before Hidan could blink again the man let go of the woman's back and grabbed the chain that connected to Jashin's heart and opened his right eye, revealing a Sharingan, with his left eye changing colour from white to purple.

" _I can see you_ , Jashin…" the man smirked. "It's _**my**_ body or _**no**_ body now."

Moments later, the man closed his eyes and fell to the ground.

Hidan's jaw dropped. "What the fuck?! Itachi, is that you?! Where is your left arm?! And why does one of your eyes look like our leader's?! Who is that woman with you?! And… most importantly…" Hidan's expression changed from shock to bitter disgust, "Why are you interfering in Lord Jashin's ceremony?! I thought you'd make an incredible Jashinist!"

Hidan's disgust turned into wrath, and on instinct he threw his scythe at the pair of intruders. The woman, despite having her back to Hidan and the man, reacted immediately, swiftly stepping around the man to get in between him and the scythe, lion heads made of purple chakra enveloping her forearms as she did so. The woman forced the lion head on her right forearm forward with a palm strike, and the lion head slammed into the scythe, destroying it beyond repair and scattering the pieces in many directions. The fragments that went flying behind her and toward the man were broken further and stopped from reaching the man by gusts of air coming from more palm strikes, these ones from her left hand, and as a result not a single injury befell her or the man. Hidan could only watch in awe and horror as this woman gracefully and ferociously obliterated his favourite and most familiar weapon, then turned to face him fully, her face and her lion fists staring him down, paralyzing him in fear.

"That's _**not**_ Itachi-kun… That's _Sasuke_ -kun." the woman said, her soft features contrasting with the steel in her voice, only making her scarier to Hidan. " _My_ name is Hinata Hyuga. And as long as I'm here, you won't be hurting anyone anymore."

[X-X-X]

Meanwhile, inside Sasuke's mind…

"What did you do?!" Jashin asked, frustrated as he faced his technique's hijacker.

At first glance, Sasuke could not tell it was Jashin; his form was vastly different compared to Kagemaru and his voice was higher-pitched. He looked more like the Shinigami from the one time he saw it; his skin was purple and his face had similar features to the entity, like a perpetual smile that covered half his face, yellow fangs, and completely black eyes save for white dots in the centre. There was also an element of his Curse Transformation: the white skeletal markings across his body. His hair also had the same long, wide, and spiky style as the Shinigami's, but it was red instead of white, a carryover of his pure-blooded Uzumaki heritage. Eventually Sasuke figured out that this must have been the true form of Jashin's soul: an unholy fusion of human, Shinigami, and whatever the source of his Curse Energy was.

"It's simple, really… Hinata and I just swapped places with Karin." Sasuke said as soon he realized the identity of his mind's visitor.

"Like you did with the pink-haired girl and the snake…"

"Their names are Sakura and Aoda… and yes. I can also use that technique to swap _myself_ with someone, in case you weren't aware."

"I didn't even see you. And I placed the barrier around just in case you were hiding!"

"You might not have seen us… but _we_ could see _you._ My friend Hinata, she has these eyes called the _Byakugan._ Perhaps you've heard of the Hyuga Clan?"

"Hyuga… Yes, that name rings a bell. So you combined the Byakugan's long reach and your own special eye's powers to see us and _**My Holy Ground…**_ "

"And my swapping ability can cross into _other dimensions_ , assuming a portal's open. I've done that once before. It's like a Substitution Jutsu, but boosted with _Space-Time Manipulation_. A simple, physical barrier such as yours was no problem to pass through… going in _or_ going out."

"Just how far… does that technique's range go?!"

"As far as my Rinnegan can see clearly."

Sasuke smirked, and Jashin's eyes widened in shock.

"You get it… Hinata and I were combining our chakra, and our _eyes_." Sasuke continued. "I could see _much_ farther than I usually could; just a little over _ten kilometres_ on almost all sides, even. Karin's now _far, far away_ from us."

"You just got lucky, picking that time _of all times_ to interfere…" Jashin grumbled.

"Luck? You think it was a _coincidence_ we stopped you when we did? Please; _Black Zetsu_ would be disappointed."

Jashin's expression went from mere shock to total panic:

"How much do you know?!"

"You missed out on _a lot_ when you were in your self-imposed prisons." Sasuke remarked, stunning Jashin speechless. "But the only thing that matters right now is _Orochimaru_. He saw you steal Kagemaru's body and developed his own method for doing the same."

"Orochimaru is a body thief? … How _arrogant._ Only _**gods**_ have the right to use bodies that don't belong to them." Jashin crossed his arms in disgust. "All others must receive my _**Divine Permission!**_ "

"'Divine Permission' or not, Orochimaru's actually self-conscious enough to _know when to stop._ But in any case, I know how your technique works… in detail. I knew that the only way to stop it was to swap with Karin _the_ _moment your blood exploded_ and your spirit left your body. Any later and you would have entered Karin's body before we arrived. Any earlier and you would have just stopped the _Jashin Succession Technique_ and tried to kill us. We could stop your body theft because _we knew how it worked;_ there was no coincidence involved."

Jashin's fury was so extreme that he could not put it into words.

"Well, Jashin? My proposal still stands." Sasuke approached Jashin, his hand charged with lightning. "Do you want to try for my body instead of Karin's? Or would you prefer to give up and reunite with your _other half_ in the Shinigami? I'm warning you now… you aren't going to win if you take me on in here. You need blood for your Jashinism abilities, and we don't bleed in mental battles. And since you don't have a body, you can't access the Shinigami's dimension for when you become puppet-like. Your two most threatening attributes aren't around… you're out of your element. _Me_ , on the other hand? Well, you're not the first one to try to steal my body… and you wouldn't be the first to fail."

"No… I'd be the first to _**succeed!**_ "

Jashin fired a bunch of spinning chains at different angles, all aiming for Sasuke. The Uchiha calmly released Chidori and stretched out his palm, putting it between him and the chains, and the next moment an invisible burst of outward gravity sent all the chains flying back, stupefying Jashin. During that moment of vulnerability, Sasuke rushed past all the chains, closed his fist, and charged it with lightning once again, punching a gaping hole right through Jashin's abdomen before he could react.

"Damn it… How did you repel my chains?!" Jashin asked, quickly becoming short of breath.

"After concealing so much from me… I don't feel like telling you." Sasuke remarked, his smirk returning. "I figured out _your_ techniques. How about you try _figuring out mine?_ "

Jashin started giggling. "I have a better idea… I'll reunite with my other half in the Shinigami… and wait another one hundred years or so. You'll die of natural causes, while I shall remain _everlasting…_ I might even grow powerful enough to not require a human vessel in the living world… And when I do I'll free myself… Can you follow me in and stop me? I don't think you can…"

"Believe whatever you want." Sasuke stood tall, his back to Jashin's own as the lightning in his hand disappeared. "Just know that nothing escapes my eyes anymore."

After hearing that final warning, Jashin faded from Sasuke's consciousness.

[X-X-X]

As Sasuke faced off with Jashin within his own mind, another battle was ensuing…

 _I… don't think I can keep this up much longer…_ Hinata thought as she panted, just narrowly dodging another dark red pellet.

"Yes, Lord Jashin! This _**Blood Style**_ is incredible!" Hidan screamed in ecstasy, his _Curse Transformation_ activated. "Please forgive me for ingesting your own blood to do it, though… This _**witch**_ is too agile for me to cut!"

Hidan shot several more blood pellets in Hinata's direction, and while she managed to dodge most of them, one just barely grazed her right pant leg.

"Yes… a hit! _**KABOOM!**_ "

At Hidan's command, the blood on Hinata's pant leg exploded, taking with it the entire right leg beneath the knee and small chunks of her left calf. The injury made her collapse just in time for Hidan's Curse Transformation to run out.

Hinata struggled to get up despite her injury. _I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun… Blood Style was something I wasn't prepared for… It didn't match what Sakura-san said about Mr. Hidan at all… I wasn't strong enough to protect you…_

"Perfect time for it to wear off… Now I'll have _**your**_ blood instead, and perform the _Ceremonial Killing_ when you're _**defenseless**_ , just like Lord Jashin taught me to!" Hidan laughed maniacally as he picked up the spire he discarded in favour of _Blood Style_ during the battle and rubbed it along Hinata's leg injury. Then he licked Hinata's blood off the spire, entering his Curse Transformation yet again:

" _ **MMM!**_ This blood is _delicious!_ It tastes even better than that bearded fellow with the knives!"

After the orgasmic reaction Hidan impaled his own right foot with the spire. Before he could make the circle with his own blood, however, he saw a giant purple fist coming his way from behind Hinata at the top corner of his eye. The punch launched him so far he fell into the rapid currents surrounding Whirlpool Island, losing the spire he had just reunited with. Hinata looked behind her, too exhausted to use her Byakugan, to find Sasuke's eyes were open.

"Sasuke-kun… You won!"

"Spent too much time doing it though…" Sasuke looked away from Hinata's body in shame. "You're really hurt. Naruto is going to give me _hell_ for what happened to your legs when he comes back. I saw what happened when Nagato almost killed you in front of him in Kurama's memories…"

Hinata smiled despite her injury. "Don't worry about me… Karin-san and Sakura-san are really good healers, Karin-san must have sensed my chakra dropping to critical levels, and we're planning on yours disappearing entirely… They're probably heading here to help us right now…"

The Hyuga's expression turned serious. "You still have a job to do, Sasuke-kun… Get your soul into Lord Shinigami and save everyone… It's all up to you now."

Sasuke stood up and nodded, moving over to the crater where the Shinigami Energy was surging out from. Once he got there, he crouched down and placed his hand in the centre. Sasuke then closed his right eye to focus on his Rinnegan once more, and looked down into the abyss of bluish white flames:

 _Human Path: Reverse Soul Absorption!_

Sasuke silently split his mind from his body, taking as much physical energy with him as he could, and moments later his body collapsed on top of the crater, lying down face-first. Sasuke, however, experienced something else. He saw himself falling even further, so far down that he passed underneath all the bluish white flames and landed in an endless expanse of black, save for the bluish white flames that composed the closest equivalent this world had to a sky, and a few lights of differing colours spread out around him.

To Sasuke, it was unmistakable thanks to the memories he received from Kurama's Yin Half; he crossed the dimensional barrier and was now in the belly of the Shinigami.

* * *

(A/N): Classes have started up again, which means I am going back to a weekly schedule. Look forward to Chapter 48 next Saturday!


	49. Chapter 48: The Shinigami's Dimension

After noticing the bluish white flames in the sky and the assortment of colours scattered about, Sasuke looked at himself. To his surprise, he had his left arm. Even more surprising, however, was that Sasuke's entire being was a dark purple and wispy.

 _Is this what my soul looks like in its purest form? I suppose… I have my left arm because, while I lost that part of my body, I never lost that part of my soul… that's why I can still make hand seals with the Susano'o arm… Susano'o… My Susano'o colour is purple, as am I in this dimension… That's probably not a coincidence, but I'll need to see everyone else before I can make a judgement on tha-_

Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted when he heard footsteps. Assuming it was Jashin, he immediately moved to draw his sword, but found it wasn't there.

 _Damn… I have my left arm, but I don't have any weapons or tools… I guess that means I can only use things directly connected to my soul in here…_

As the footsteps came closer, Sasuke heard a voice:

"Hello! Is anyone there?! I heard someone landing here!"

Sasuke could recognize the voice, but was unsure why this person was capable of speech in their present state. He promptly decided to approach the voice, and replied as he did so:

"Ino?"

Eventually he saw her figure, but she was glowing the same blue colour as the spirits he'd seen in the living world. He also noticed that he and Ino were about the same height, which shouldn't have been the case since his use of _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ to revive Butsuma.

 _It's just like Karin said then… my mind didn't age along with my body… Mentally, I'm still seventeen years old, and my appearance here reflects that…_

"Sasuke?! I can't see you…" Ino said.

"That's only natural. According to Kurama's memories, without the Rinnegan you can only see other spirits taken during the same sealing. But it's strange: Kurama was suspended immobile in midair, and only had his sense of sight, while we're walking and can hear each other's voices…"

"Oh… I know why! I came here by trying to use the _Mind Transfer Jutsu_ on Jashin, so I still have some physical energy in me. That's why I have my senses and am affected by gravity…"

"The same goes for me too, then. I also came here with some physical energy, but I think I only have enough for _one jutsu…_ I have to make it count."

Ino pouted. "I don't even have _that_ much… The _Mind Transfer_ wasn't designed to allow for using jutsu outside a body…"

"Anyway, I need to see what happened to the others and find Jashin. Let's go."

"And just how are we doing that? I can't see you or anyone else!"

At that moment, Sasuke took his left arm and put it over Ino's back to hold her left shoulder.

Ino's eyes widened. "You have a left arm?!"

"I lost that part of my _body_ , but not that part of my _soul_. Still, I've been without a left arm for so long I don't think I'll be using it in battle regardless… so I might as well get some use out of it another way during this rare opportunity. And for what it's worth … I've missed the feeling of holding something in my left hand…"

All of a sudden, Ino threw her own right arm around Sasuke's back to hold his right shoulder. "Don't get carried away, Ino… I just confessed to Sakura a few hours ago." The Uchiha said in response.

"You did?! I knew it… I _knew_ Sakura would win you over someday! _**Woo Hoo!**_ "

"You're not upset? I thought you two _competed_ over me…"

"Oh please… I figured out Sakura's feelings for you were on a deeper level than mine quite a while ago! Since then I've _wanted_ her to win, _pushing_ her to show you how she really felt and tie the knot with you! Sakura's _**real**_ feelings matter more than my _**artificial**_ ones!"

"I see…" Sasuke smiled. "Thank you for being there for her when I couldn't be."

Ino blushed, but quickly shook it off, stomping her feet and furrowed her brow:

"Don't you _dare_ say a word of this to her! Sakura and I are still _**rivals**_ at the end of the day!"

Sasuke let out a faint chuckle. "I _just_ went about telling Sakura there were no more illusions between us and you're asking me to keep a secret? _From her?_ Sorry, but Sakura's going to know about it the moment we're finished here."

With the end of his words Sasuke began leading Ino to the coloured lights he saw, albeit with some difficulty from a violent woman desperately trying to preserve her tough girl image.

[X-X-X]

When they reached proximity to the coloured lights, Sasuke noticed that the 'lights' he saw were actually Jashin's other victims suspended in midair, unable to move or use any of their senses but sight. Even then, they couldn't see anyone else without the Rinnegan.

Sasuke stared in wonder at everyone's colours. "How fascinating…"

"What are you seeing, Sasuke?" Ino asked.

"The colours Jashin's other victims are glowing. I myself am dark purple, the colour of my Susano'o, and Naruto is yellow, the colour of his Rasengan and Chakra Mode."

"It figures _you two_ would have complementary colours."

"Then you could the same about Naruto _and Hinata._ Both Susano'o and Rasengan are examples of Shape Manipulation. If I'm right, that means the colour we glow in this world is the colour of our chakra in Shape Manipulation techniques in the living world. Hinata's Lion Fists are Shape Manipulation as well, and they're purple just like my Susano'o, so…"

"So who else is in here, and what colours do they have?"

"For starters, you're light blue like spirits outside their bodies, Ino. Your chakra probably got accustomed to the colour because you spend so much time out of your body already. Next … Shikamaru is a very dark grey, almost black, while Choji is the exact opposite, a nearly white light grey."

"So Jashin got them too…" Ino frowned in grief. "But their colours make sense. Shikamaru's shadow techniques are all Shape Manipulation and as dark as actual shadows, and Choji being the opposite fits with the Akimichi Clan's techniques being Yang Style, the opposite of the Nara Clan's Yin Style…Come to think of it, Sai's drawings are Yang Style Shape Manipulation techniques and they're white, so maybe Sai's colour would be the same as Choji's…"

"At any rate… Akamaru is red and Aoda is blue. Aoda's blue is moderately darker than your blue, Ino."

"So the animals have colours that match with their names? Isn't that just a _little_ too coincidental?"

"Aoda's _body_ is blue, Ino."

"Oh yeah... Akamaru's fur _turned red_ when he ate a soldier pill during Kiba's fight with Naruto… Maybe it isn't as coincidental as I thought."

"Kiba is also red, the _exact shade as Akamaru's_ , even. So that means we can bring him back. We weren't sure in what way he died when it happened. Glad to know he isn't in the same boat as Gyuki."

Ino tilted her head in confusion. "Gyuki?"

"The Eight-Tails' name. Jashin killed him without taking his soul, since he witnessed the Nine-Tails' soul being incomplete when it was sealed in here the day of Naruto's birth."

"Oh, I get it… yeah, thank god for that." Ino sighed with relief. "Still, I guess Kiba and Akamaru _would_ have the exact same colour because they combine their chakra together so often…"

"Speaking of Gyuki…" Sasuke cocked his head a little, "… B's colour is… I don't know, but it looks metallic. Like the colour of an iron sword… or maybe silver."

"How many others?"

"There should be four more." Sasuke started counting with the fingers on his right hand. "Shino is dark green, Suigetsu is turquoise, Butsuma is brown…"

"Butsuma, as in the First Hokage's _father_ , Butsuma _**Senju?!**_ "

"Madara brought him back with _Impure World Resurrection_ some time before the First Ninja World War. He was stranded on a deserted island until three days ago when my team found him and brought him back to true life with _Samsara of Heavenly Life_. At any rate, two days ago Butsuma lost his soul to Jashin, and knowing what I know now, he isn't coming back to life again even if his soul is freed…"

"Why not?!"

"Because I inadvertently _destroyed Butsuma's body_ using _Planetary Devastation_ the first time I fought Jashin. If I free his soul now, it'll just go to the Pure World like our last victim … Itachi, orange-red just like his Susano'o."

Sasuke looked over to his brother's soul and noticed that despite not having the Sword of Kusanagi with him, Itachi had a sword in his right hand and a shield on his left arm. "Wait… why does Itachi have weapons on him?"

"The more pressing question is _'_ _why is Itachi here in the first place?'._ "

"Kabuto brought him back with _Impure World Resurrection_ , intending to seal Jashin with the Totsuka…" Sasuke paused as he made a revelation. "… That's it! Those weapons Itachi has are the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror! _Physical_ weapons can't be brought in here, but _spiritual_ weapons can!"

"Spiritual weapons?"

"Those are the only two I know about, but some weapons don't have an ordinary physical form." Sasuke pointed at Itachi with his right hand. "The Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror, rather than being inanimate objects composed purely of physical energy like your garden variety ninja tools, are composed purely of _spiritual energy_ instead. But Itachi could physically manifest both weapons through his Susano'o…"

 _Wait a minute… The weapons are composed of purely spiritual energy? Then how could Itachi have found them at all? The Sharingan can't see spirits, even at the Mangekyo level; you need a Rinnegan to see spirits without bodies. Itachi didn't have a Rinnegan, so he couldn't have found them on his own… but Nagato could. He was the first person since Hagaromo himself to have a Rinnegan and not be confined to one room. So if anyone could have found them on their own it was Nagato, not Itachi. But Itachi is the one with them now, and can only wield them using Susano'o… Needing a Rinnegan to find them and a Susano'o to wield them… It almost sounds like…_

Sasuke lost himself in thought, but soon shook himself back to reality with the intent to confirm something:

"Hey, Ino… how much do you know about the Treasured Tools of the Six Paths?"

"Not much… just the occasional rants from Tenten. She's said that the Bashosen can attack with all five basic elements, and she's called three of the others useless because they're designed to seal something together and have no use on their own… And she wished one weapon did all three of their jobs at once… Why do you ask?"

Sasuke smirked and nodded. "Because thanks to your info, I've figured out who created the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror: Indra Otsutsuki, _Elder Son of the Six Paths._ "

Ino's jaw dropped and she visibly shook in bewilderment. "You can't be serious!"

"I am. You say the Bashosen can _attack_ with any basic element? The Yata Mirror can _reflect_ any basic element. That means the Yata Mirror can nullify _anything the Bashosen throws at it_. And the Totsuka Blade? It can seal anything by simply making contact with its sword swing. It's the _improvement_ to the Treasured Tools Tenten's been wanting. They both can only be wielded by someone with Susano'o… and the only person with Susano'o in the Sage of the Six Paths' era was Indra, the Sage's first-born son and my clan's progenitor. Indra created the Totsuka Blade first upon seeing the three 'useless tools' so he could do all three jobs by himself. Then after he started the feud with his younger brother Asura - who probably received the Treasured Tools as the Sage's chosen successor - he created the Yata Mirror to _counter_ the Bashosen, which Asura likely used in combat… It makes an incredible amount of sense, don't you think?"

"Whatever! We need to find Jashin and destroy him! Then release everyone's souls from this _**hell hole!**_ "

"Hell hole… That's almost _literally_ true, you know…" Sasuke remarked with a chuckle.

Suddenly, Sasuke saw a figure rushing at him to the left from the corner of his eye, and jumped back with Ino to dodge their attack. Afterward he could see the assailant clearly; it was Jashin, in the same grotesque true form he saw in his own mind, only with a blood red wispy aura.

"Even down here, you find yourself being aided by beautiful women…" Jashin grumbled, doing his best to make his perpetual smile become a frown. "First _**My Chosen Vessel**_ , then the pink-haired girl, then the Hyuga witch, and now the angel that reminds me of Yoko so much… You don't need to forgive me, my sweet Yamanaka angel… I made sure to keep your body fair and flawless."

"You _**touched my body**_ while I wasn't in it?!" Ino shouted. "What a creep… How old are you, anyway?!"

Jashin stroked his chin. "I ascended to godhood 119 years ago… That is my age."

Ino started shivering.

"It gets worse than that, Ino. He was a normal human for at least fifty years before then." Sasuke added. "He was fifty when he stole his son's thirteen year old body, the body he had when he 'ascended'."

Ino moved her right hand off Sasuke's shoulder and put both her hands to her mouth, coughing in disgust.

"If we must include my mortal years, then being truthful, I am 186, going on 187 this year…" Jashin clarified.

Ino almost threw up in revulsion. _He's almost eleven times older than me and he touched my body… I feel violated just hearing him talk!_

"But Uchiha… Even while I was _mortal_ , even before the _Curse,_ I was _**far**_ from _normal!_ "

In that instant, Jashin used his elongated and sharpened fingernails on his left hand to make a deep cut on his right forearm. A wide stream of blood then flew out of the laceration and split apart into several needles in the air. Each needle subsequently flew at Sasuke one after the other. Sasuke let go of Ino and jumped away from her, leading the blood needles away, dodging them all except one which hit his left elbow.

" _ **BOOM!**_ "

On Jashin's cue the blood on Sasuke's left arm exploded, destroying it and any chance Sasuke had of using his soul's left arm in the ensuing fight.

Sasuke remained standing, struggling to stay up after his soul's left arm exploded. "I thought… you needed _someone else's_ blood for Jashinism abilities… Let alone… blood existing in this dimension at all…"

"You love questions so much, so I may as well ask you one now." Jashin's grin widened even more than was typical. "Since when were you under the impression that _**Blood Style**_ was tied directly to the _**Curse?**_ "

Sasuke's jaw dropped in disbelief. _He… he could manipulate his own blood… before the curse?!_

"Since you figured out so much already I'm sure you're on the right track… I was able to manipulate _**my own blood**_ as far back as I can remember! Before I became a god myself, I was sure _blessed_ by one… because my birth was a _**miracle**_ in its own right!"

"What the hell are you talking about, your birth being a miracle?!" Ino interjected. "There's nothing miraculous about you except your miraculously strong ability to creep me right the fuck out!"

"On the contrary… My birth changed the very way we look at bloodlines today! You see, my red hair ought to be a sign that I am purely Uzumaki, but in truth I am only _**mostly**_ Uzumaki. I have _one dominant gene_ that came from my civilian mother… a _Kekkei Genkai_ gene, dormant and untrained, but there all the same… My mother was a potential user of _**Magnet Style!**_ "

Ino gasped. "Magnet Style… isn't that the _Third Kazekage_ 's Kekkei Genkai?!"

"It's the _Fourth_ Kazekage's too…" Sasuke added. "Iron Sand, Gold Dust… they can both be magnetized and controlled under the right circumstances. The Third and Fourth Kazekages could use their chakra to create magnetic fields around them, manipulating their respective materials. Come to think of it… iron is a component of _blood_ , isn't it?"

Jashin laughed. "You're catching on! _**Magnet Style**_ , the combination of Earth and Wind chakra elements, can manipulate iron… but that alone is insufficient for blood. One needs a way to seamlessly control liquid substances, on top of magnetization, for the appropriate effect."

"Water Style." Sasuke deduced. "Blood Style is the combination of the Magnet Style Kekkei Genkai and a third affinity for Water Style, which you must have received from your father… a _Kekkei Tota_ involving Earth, Wind, and Water."

"So _**Blood Style**_ is on the same level as the Third Tsuchikage's _**Particle Style?!**_ " Ino yelled in horror.

"Hah… _Particle Style…_ That is but a mere _by-product_ of my own _**Divine Luck!**_ " Jashin scoffed. "Who do you think _**coined**_ the term _Kekkei Tota?_ "

Sasuke's eyes widened. "That was _you,_ Jashin _…_ The Magnet Style _bloodline_ was _expanded_ to include blood by adding a third element to it… _Bloodline Expansion…_ _**Kekkei Tota…**_ You're the one who discovered it was possible to mix three elements!"

"All that and more in _The Way of Jashin_ , available somewhere illegal." Jashin remarked. "I specifically wrote such when I explained that _immortality_ _**and**_ _Blood Style_ become accessible when one drinks from the _**Holy Grail of Jashin…**_ the blood from my original body. _Blood Style_ is an independent _Kekkei Tota_ that just so happens to work _very well_ in conjunction with the _Curse_ , since it increases the amount of blood compatible with one's chakra… by one person each transformation."

"That still doesn't explain how you could even have blood in this dimension…" Sasuke said.

"I'll let _**you**_ figure out the details…" Jashin shook his head as he raised his hands to the sky. "All I _will_ say is that my _Divine Power_ is flexible enough to substitute for physical energy as well as spiritual… and that I can turn anything compatible with me into blood!"

At that moment, Sasuke saw some _Shinigami Energy_ leave Jashin's hands and enter the blazing sky, and seconds later Jashin clapped his hands:

" _ **Blood Style: Landscape Transmutation!**_ "

As if on cue, all the _Shinigami Energy_ that composed the sky in the vicinity above Sasuke, Ino, and Jashin was transformed into a massive pool of blood that began to fall on top of them.

 _That's it… the break I've been looking for!_ Sasuke thought as he ran next to Ino.

Jashin laughed. "It's raining blood… _**literally!**_ "

"Ino, hold me as closely as you can!" Sasuke shouted as he rotated around Ino until he was facing her, raising his hand to the sky. Ino proceeded to feel for Sasuke and when she felt his chest, she wrapped her arms around Sasuke and hugged him as tightly as she could.

"Want to spend your last seconds being held by an angel, eh, Uchiha?" Jashin giggled. "I wouldn't blame you; Kamina thought much the same thing!"

When the rain of blood came down, it came down hard, and in no time the rain covered Sasuke and Ino to the point Jashin could not see what happened to them. Sure they were hit, Jashin went for the coup-de-grace:

" _ **BOOM! EVERYTHING GOES BOOM!**_ "

Following Jashin's command, every last rain drop of blood close to Sasuke and Ino exploded, surrounding the area in a dark red upside-down mushroom cloud.

"You never had a chance in _this_ realm, Uchiha… This is _**My Holy Ground**_ , and the slightest physical energy you had couldn't possibly have sa-"

Jashin's celebration was cut short when he saw Sasuke still standing upright, his hand raised, with Ino still hugging him and some kind of barrier protecting them from the rain of blood, absorbing it when raindrops hit… and as Jashin soon came to realize, that barrier also absorbed all the explosions.

"How… What kind of sorcery is this?!" Jashin exclaimed in utter disbelief.

"It's not sorcery; it's _Ninjutsu._ " Sasuke corrected with a smirk, turning to face Jashin. "I'll let _you_ figure out the details… All I _will_ say is that I need to thank you for telling me that _Shinigami Energy_ can substitute for physical energy as well."

"Sasuke was low enough when we got here that he could only use one jutsu!" Ino added with a smirk of her own, sticking her tongue out and winking at Jashin.

"But now… I'm as full of it as I could be in the world outside." Sasuke concluded. "You might want to stand back, Ino…"

"No way! For one thing, I'm practically _blind_ in this world, and I can't use any jutsu to defend myself! The safest place for me now is _**by your side!**_ And for another… _someone_ has to be present to witness what you're about to do! If you go telling the world that you _**killed a god**_ today, someone will have to back up your story for people to believe it!"

"I suppose you're right… In that case, hug me from behind instead; I'll be able to move more efficiently if you do." As Sasuke instructed, Ino shuffled around Sasuke until she was at the Uchiha's back and her arms were wrapped around to meet at Sasuke's chest. "For your own safety, don't let go… now let's finish this."


	50. Chapter 49: Inherent Fallacy of God

"So you possess some way to absorb _Ninjutsu…_ " Jashin said as he calmed himself, recovering from the sight of Sasuke surviving the rain of blood. "Then I shall just destroy you with _Taijutsu!_ "

Countless gigantic chains suddenly erupted outward from every part of Jashin's soul, intertwining and twisting at various junctures until at last the resulting form of the chains was a silver headless human-shaped golem so utterly massive its shoulders were touching the bluish white flames in the sky. Meanwhile, the blood red aura from Jashin himself pulsated from within the centre of the chest, making it appear as though this colossal construction had a heart.

"What just happened, Sasuke?!" Ino asked in panic. "It sounded like a lot of metals were grinding and screeching as they collided together!"

Sasuke looked up at the monstrosity, trembling. "Jashin's put together a massive battle suit using his _Adamantine Sealing Chains_. And from the looks of things… it's almost twice as big as the Ten-Tails."

"The _**TEN-TAILS?!**_ You're telling me _one man_ collected enough power to surpass _**all the Tailed Beasts put together?!**_ Is that kind of power even possible for someone to get in the living world?! _**Without**_ becoming its Jinchuriki?!"

Sasuke's expression turned grim. "One person… _one person_ managed it. Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Sage of the Six Paths' mother and the first person to ever have chakra. We don't have the time for details right now, but a millennium-long plan eventually brought her back from being sealed away, and Team Seven, Obito, and I had to work together to seal her again. I couldn't have defeated Kaguya without any of their help, and now I'm up against someone _at least_ _as strong as Kaguya…_ and I'm all on my own."

Ino sighed in desolation. "I can feel you shaking… It must be really scary for even you, huh…"

"Enough of that chattering down there!" Jashin interjected from his spot in the humongous contraption. "Behold… I shall use all the _Shinigami Energy_ I've amassed over the last 119 years to destroy your souls so completely that not a _**trace**_ shall remain! I am Lord Jashin, the God of Destruction, and the Second God of Death as well! No one stands a chance against me inside _**My Holy Ground…**_ So be _erased from existence_ before my _**Divine Power…**_ and _**PERISH!**_ "

With the end of his rant Jashin's _Adamantine Chain Goliath_ got down on its right knee, causing the black ground to shake for some distance that was too far for Sasuke to accurately measure. On instinct, Sasuke tried running in the opposite direction, but found that a silver fist was coming down on top of him from the top corner of his eye, and in the next second there was a silver ceiling descending on to the entire area. Sasuke could now tell that Jashin was intending to punch him and Ino flat with the statue's right fist.

 _It looks like there's no way to run from something this big… In that case…_

Sasuke smirked as purple energy expanded from his own soul, engulfing him and Ino, forming a purple tengu in samurai armour with wings and a sword at each hip, Sasuke and Ino in its forehead. It would be considered massive by most standards but was demonstrably _small_ compared to the gargantuan construct it was up against; indeed, Susano'o's entire body was not even half as wide as its opponent's fist.

Nonetheless Susano'o drew both its blades and began hacking away at the construction of chains. It tore apart bond after bond until eventually the mechanism's right hand was no more, its components falling to the floor near Susano'o's feet and reverting to bluish white flames upon contact with the ground, then rising to the sky. Jashin was speechless upon witnessing the event.

"Ino, when I was trembling earlier, that wasn't out of fear." Sasuke remarked. "I was trembling… with _excitement._ "

Ino listened in awe at the confidence in Sasuke's voice, feeling the warmth of the energy around them that somehow protected them from the attack.

"Ever since my first battle with Jashin, I knew that I could hold Susano'o for longer than I could when I first went on my journey, but I didn't have a chance to test out just how _much_ longer… until now."

Susano'o began flying straight for Jashin the moment Sasuke finished speaking. But the Goliath stood back up and opened its left hand, intent on swatting Susano'o like a fly. In response, Susano'o started making an upward loop as soon as the left hand got close, narrowly averting being swatted, and instead faced the back of the statue's hand.

Jashin next attempted to backhand Susano'o, but Sasuke would have none of that. Susano'o put both its blades together and charged them with lightning, then dove for the back of the silver left hand with the unified tip of the blades in front, spinning all the while, appearing like a violet mountain-sized drill. When Susano'o and the left hand connected, Susano'o pierced a large hole through it, exiting at the palm and destroying enough bonds in the chains to make all five fingers fall off. The fingers burst into flame as soon as they hit the ground.

 _Look at that, Jashin… You're not the only one that can combine lightning and spinning to pierce through even the strongest materials…_ Sasuke thought as he stared right at the heart and resumed flying straight to it.

"What a _blasphemous_ move!" Jashin shouted as he moved to push the arms together and squish Susano'o between them. Sasuke stopped Susano'o's flight to let them come close, and then slashed both arms at once - the right arm with his left swing and the left arm with his right - cutting both forearms open. This gave Susano'o enough room to rise out of the arms' way as they collided.

Taking advantage of this, Jashin pulled the left arm out its socket with the right and manipulated the chains' bonds to form a scythe for the right arm to improve its reach. Jashin stepped back with the left leg to simultaneously distance himself from the incoming Susano'o and provide balance as the right arm attacked with the scythe. Sasuke saw the attack coming and Susano'o altered course, flying for where the right arm and scythe were connected.

 _Please… I need this to work…_

Sasuke prayed as his Rinnegan began bleeding - a consequence of absorbing so much Blood Style Shinigami Energy - and he used Amaterasu to ignite the joint in black flames.

"This happened once before; those flames cannot sto-"

Jashin was interrupted by Susano'o piercing through the joint connecting the right arm and the scythe with a spinning stab, this time not charged with lightning. Instead, Susano'o picked up the black flames on the blades as it tore through the elongated limb at the midpoint.

"You never learn, Jashin. All I needed was for Amaterasu to _rust_ your chains, not burn right through them." Sasuke remarked as the scythe fell to the ground and, the piercing causing Jashin to lose balance, the golem fell to the ground on its back, now with no hand on its right arm and without a left arm at all.

The impact the _Adamantine Chain Goliath_ made with the ground caused a tremor so great that the entire dimension shook, and the scythe burst into bluish white flames upon contact with the shaking floor. But before those flames could reach the sky, they flew around Sasuke's two Amaterasu-emblazoned swords, held up above Susano'o's head and united at the tip once again.

" _ **Inferno Style: Shinigami Flame Control Sabre!**_ " Sasuke shouted.

The flames from the sky descended in a vortex around Susano'o's swords along with the flames underneath him from the detached scythe. After Sasuke attracted as much of the sky as he could, the bluish white flames became fuel for the flames of Amaterasu, darkening in colour and coming together with Susano'o's swords to form a single sword held in both hands composed of bluish _black_ flames over ten times the length of Susano'o itself. With no time to spare, Susano'o swung the burning blade horizontally to the ground at the fallen titan's waist.

"No… _ **YOU CAN'T POSSESS A TECHNIQUE LIKE THAT!**_ "

The blade came down on Jashin as he screamed in abject horror. He tried to kick the Chain Goliath's legs up to disrupt Sasuke's swing, but he was too slow; in no time the _Shinigami Flame Control Sabre_ completely burned through the statue's waist, cutting the structure in half. The lower half burst into bluish white flames and rose to the sky as the _Shinigami Flame Control Sabre_ itself did right after finishing the slice.

 _As expected… I don't have much time left after that…_ Sasuke thought as he flew directly above the flashing crimson light that was Jashin. As quickly as he could he drew Susano'o's bow, formed an arrow filled with lightning, and fired it aiming straight under him at the glowing red aura. Jashin saw this and reacted by uncoiling all the chains, then reforming them into thirteen hands, and stacking them all on top of each other to block the incoming attack.

Despite Jashin's best efforts, Sasuke's arrow pierced through all thirteen hands of chain, them bursting into flame one after another. The strike did not hit Jashin himself, however; he managed to roll to the left, dodging the arrow by a hair's breath as it penetrated the ground.

This was good news for Jashin, but bad news for Sasuke. Even worse for Sasuke was that his Susano'o dissipated and he, along with Ino, were falling to their dooms.

 _Dammit… I suppose summoning isn't an option here… but I know what is._ The Uchiha thought.

"Sasuke… why are we falling?" Ino asked, feeling the weight of gravity pulling her down along with Sasuke.

"Susano'o ran out, but it's fine. We'll survive this. Just make sure you hug yourself for dear life the moment you stop feeling me… got it?"

"I don't know how that will help, but -"

Before Ino could finish she stopped feeling Sasuke in her arms. Panicking, she tried to hug herself as Sasuke instructed, but found that she was holding on to something… something that tickled her when she touched it.

Meanwhile, Jashin stood up. He recovered from the _Adamantine Chain Goliath_ being destroyed down to the last chain to find Sasuke standing where his arrow was only moments ago. His Rinnegan was closed… and blood was on his left cheek right under it.

"Ha ha! Since absorbing the rain of blood, you could _**bleed!**_ Victory shall be mine!"

Jashin launched himself at Sasuke during his rant. Sasuke, while currently unable to see due to his Rinnegan closing from overuse, could hear Jashin coming and calmly dodged his attack.

As a result, Jashin was now standing in the exact spot Sasuke was before his last-ditch effort, and within seconds an arrow of lightning came striking in the same place twice. It ripped through the top of Jashin's back and exited near his pelvis as it dissipated, leaving Ino to force Jashin to the ground face-first by inadvertently sitting on him from behind.

"Sasuke?! Oh god… Did you just impale yourself with your own technique?!" Ino cried with worry.

"Relax… The one you hit was Jashin. I knew Jashin would get excited about my bleeding and try to get at the blood, so I led him to where the arrow would strike again."

Ino sighed with relief, but then immediately jumped off the man underneath her in disgust. "So… _Jashin…_ made contact with… _marred…_ my _**PERFECT ASS?!**_ "

"Sorry…" Sasuke turned his head away from Ino's voice in embarrassment and shame. "It was the only thing I could think of to save us both and defeat Jashin all at once…"

"Defeat… Yes… that's what happened…" Jashin struggled to reply thanks to his normally fatal wound. "Virtually all the _Shinigami Energy_ I've gathered these past 119 years… has been sliced, diced, drilled, shocked, burned, and punctured away from me. I don't even have enough to see… much less use jutsu. How … How could a _god_ such as myself … lose to a _mere mortal?_ "

"I'll tell you why." Sasuke approached Jashin's voice and looked down on him. "It's _because_ you called yourself a god, and _because_ you were so assured of your own divinity, that you lost."

"What do you mean by that, Sasuke?" Ino asked.

"You're not the first 'god' I've encountered, Jashin; far from it. Orochimaru, Yoshitsune, Nagato, Obito, Madara, Kaguya… They all considered themselves gods. Want to know what happened to them? They _failed_ , every last one. Self-appointed gods are doomed to fail to live up to their own divinity. That's something my eyes see very clearly."

"Gods… are _doomed to fail?_ I'd laugh at the ridiculousness of your claim, but I don't seem to have the strength." Jashin retorted.

"I'm serious. Orochimaru, Yoshitsune, Nagato, and Obito all realized they couldn't live up to their godhood and rescinded their claims. Madara _did_ achieve everything he wanted to, sure… but all along, he was following someone else's instructions and he was too consumed with his own ego to realize it, so he paid the ultimate price for his folly. And Kaguya… where to begin? She had all the power in the world to back up her godhood, but she couldn't handle the possibility of someone becoming stronger than her. Or much worse, the idea that someone _weaker than her_ could pose a threat despite the gap in power. That caused her to make many mistakes when my team fought with her. That's where _you_ failed too. Comparatively, you might have a shuriken and I might only have a stone… but I'm an _expert_ with the stone I have, and you've never thrown that shuriken before _in your life._ "

"What?! But he smoked us! _**All**_ of us!" Ino objected.

"When he was able to safely control Kagemaru's body from another dimension and we had no idea how his powers worked, yes. But _inside_ this dimension, where he supposedly has home field advantage and can use all his power? That's another story altogether. Despite gathering enough Shinigami Energy to become even stronger than Kaguya, he'd never fought someone directly with it before… And you must have realized that on some level, Jashin."

"That's preposterous… This is _**My Holy Ground…**_ I have all the advantage here… No one could possibly defeat me…"

"Yet someone _**did.**_ You're listening to him _right now._ That's why you were so scared of me when I told you I could see your cross. No matter how powerful you believed you were, the moment you heard that, you began imagining me coming in here and defeating you from the inside. That means at least part of you considered me a threat this whole time… And why is that? It's because you _never fought someone in this dimension before_ , and if someone else who could see in here found their way in and figured out this dimension's rules, they could compensate for their inferior power with superior _**skill**_ and defeat you. But you couldn't admit that to yourself… doing so would _contradict_ your godhood. So you continued on as if you were still unbeatable, and that led to plenty of _mistakes._ "

"Plenty of mistakes?" Ino interjected. "What kind of mistakes were they?"

"To start with, Jashin could have killed me with _Blood Style_ when we first met in the Southern Hideout, but he didn't. The elation he'd get from the _Ceremonial Killing…_ He didn't have it for 119 years and it altered his priorities. He tried to use the _Ceremonial Killing_ on me rather than take my soul because I was the first person he met that he was afraid of, but he denied himself being afraid _enough_ to go all out against me and use a more practical method of getting rid of me. That blew up in his face when Karin approached us and used her chains to stop him."

"Looking back… I suppose you weren't _completely_ defenseless." Jashin said. "Your legs were out of commission, but you still had use of your arm… and you summoned twice and swapped two bodies… I should have used _Blood Style_ immediately… I violated _the Fourth Commandment of Jashin…_ "

"Your second mistake was deciding to come to Whirlpool Island to steal Karin's body… you already know why that was a mistake, but I'll repeat it for Ino's benefit. You underestimated my ability to gather information, and you gave up your _biggest advantage_ in the process of screwing up your body theft: Puppet Mode. That leads us to your third mistake, which you repeated twice…"

"Twice?" Jashin asked.

"Yes… Two times in a row you refused to analyze my techniques. When I repelled your chains inside my mind, and again after I absorbed the rain of blood. Instead of thinking about what I was doing and how I was doing it, you switched tactics without thinking about how to counter what surprised you, steadfastly believing I couldn't counter the _next_ trick you had up your sleeve. That made you _predictable_ in our final battle. As for the fourth mistake… you were enraged enough by my seemingly incomprehensible feats, but not willing to admit your previous mistakes, that you used all your energy you had with no thought for conservation. You probably would have won just now if you didn't throw your power around and treated me like a _genuine threat_ rather than a _mere annoyance._ And finally…"

Ino raised an eyebrow. "There's another one?"

"Yes, and it involves you, Ino…" Sasuke looked up to approximately where his Susano'o dissipated. "During the last exchange, Jashin, you were so embittered by me destroying your colossus, and unable to accept your own part in that loss, that you couldn't fold your hand right then. You tried for my blood one last time, so intent on killing me that you lost sight of the arrow I swapped with to land, and failed to consider that I planned on the blind woman who can't use any jutsu, and _not_ myself, to land the decisive blow. Kaguya made the same mistake you did; she was so intent on escaping Naruto and me that she didn't spot Sakura coming in from above her. I figured you had the same weakness of character she did, and made my final move predicting that you'd act the same way… and I was right."

"And all of those mistakes… stem from me not being willing to take you seriously as a threat… even though I knew just how dangerous you were… It's too bad I didn't realize the one flaw to my divinity before it was too late." Jashin sighed.

"But it's _not_ too late." Sasuke objected as his Rinnegan opened after the discussion gave him a chance to rest it. "Today you learned that your claim to being a god… was an _illusion._ That illusion has been destroyed beyond repair, leaving you with the truth; you are Jashin Uzumaki, a _human_ who has tried to escape from their own humanity for almost 120 years. You can _accept_ that truth and go to the Pure World in peace when I release everyone from here… or you can _refuse_ that truth and be destroyed now, and in your own words, you'll be _erased from existence…_ your choice."

"Spare me your pity… _**and**_ your mockery! Flawed as I may be, I am still a _**GOD!**_ Human? I've evolved _beyond_ such a pathetic life form… All you've taught me is that there's _always room for improvement._ When I leave here, I'll become a _**better**_ god than I ever was before! I will _**NEVER**_ lose to a mere mortal ever again because of the valuable lesson you taught me here today! Ha… HA HA HA HA HA **HA HA HA HA** _ **HA HA HA!**_ "

Jashin's maniacal laughter did not end no matter how long Sasuke and Ino waited.

"Shut this _monster_ up already, would you, Sasuke?!" Ino yelled in aggravation after about two minutes or so of nonstop laughter.

"I intend to."

Sasuke's expression turned grim as he charged his hand full of lightning and aimed his fist down at Jashin's head.

"It's over, Jashin!" the Uchiha shouted as he moved to punch through Jashin… but he was stopped by the most unexpected force:

" _ **CEASE THIS VIOLENCE AT ONCE!**_ "

A terrifying voice echoed in Sasuke's ears. What terrified him even more than the voice itself, however, was that it didn't seem to come from any specific direction; the roar was coming from all sides, bombarding him every which way. It stopped Sasuke from finishing Jashin off and froze him in place; he was unable to move under the sheer power and coldness of the voice. It was as if he was listening to death itself screaming at him. Sasuke looked around and saw Ino holding herself, shivering, and Jashin seemed to have stopped laughing as well. The others were most likely hearing the same thing he did.

Within moments, a purple-skinned man with a perpetual smile wearing white robes materialized next to them, easily double the size of anyone in the dimension. The only presence larger than it was Aoda, but he was merely a dark blue wisp; this figure had substance to him. Above all that, the figure's position was also fairly close to a cross.

Sasuke recognized the figure from the one time he saw it during the Fourth Ninja World War. "You're…"

" **Yes,** _ **boy…**_ **I am what you call the Shinigami! The** _ **TRUE**_ **Shinigami!** " it replied, making a voice despite not moving its mouth. Sasuke figured it was speaking to everyone telepathically. " **And as** _ **God of Death,**_ **I cannot allow you to** _ **completely destroy**_ **anyone's soul… no matter how foul that soul is! That is a complete violation of the laws of death! And you dare to commit such blasphemy in** _ **MY OWN HOME?!**_ "

"But he's been syphoning power off you for over a century! Aren't you the least bit angry about _that?_ " Ino asked.

" **Of course I am! That's why I allowed your battle to progress as long as it had!** **You gave back all the power Jashin stole from me, and that's** _ **all that needed to be accomplished here!**_ **Now you're free to settle things in the living world, as** _ **living people**_ **ought to do… so** _ **no more violence in this dimension**_ **, understood?!** "

"Couldn't you have just done that yourself?" Sasuke wondered. "As _God of Death_ , your powers would be supreme here… right?"

" _ **WRONG!**_ "

There was such force in the Shinigami's voice that Sasuke and Ino instinctively dropped to their knees.

" **Mortal understanding of the divine has always perplexed me. Did you even** _ **ONCE**_ **think about how** _ **taxing**_ **my job is?! I have to judge all the souls of the deceased, and guide them all to their proper spots in the Pure World.** _ **Every day**_ **, people die… I hardly ever catch a break! And when I** _ **do**_ **, I want to take advantage of that break and** _ **RELAX!**_ **That's why this dimension exists: so I can** _ **REST**_ **from my job as** _ **God of Death**_ **, if only for hours at a time… And during that time, I** _ **release all my burdens**_ **, letting them** _ **soar to the ceiling of the world…**_ **Indeed, within here I am quite** _ **POWERLESS!**_ "

 _Your voice begs to differ, Shinigami! But still, I suppose there's truth to what it says… If the Shinigami could have stopped Jashin from stealing its power, then it would have done so over a century ago…_ Sasuke thought.

"Gods… can be powerless at times? Losing once in a while I understand, but to have _no power at all?_ " Jashin spoke up in confusion. "That's not right…"

" **It is not up to you to make that decision,** _ **thief!**_ **The first step to successful godhood is recognizing what - and what** _ **NOT -**_ **you have authority over! Here's an example… Me! Where souls of the departed go after they die?** _ **My domain!**_ **The conflicts of mortals while they're still alive?** _ **NOT my domain!**_ "

Everyone was quiet for several seconds that seemed like hours.

" **Come on, then… what's taking you?!** " the Shinigami broke the silence while pointing at Sasuke.

"… Excuse me?" Sasuke replied, albeit his mind not totally concentrated on the Shinigami, overwhelmed with questions about life, the universe, and everything.

" **You're the one with the most physical energy, and the only one who can see me, thus you can harm me the easiest… so** _ **HARM ME**_ **already and release all the souls here!** "

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, and then stood up to face the god before him with serious eyes:

"I'll do that, but there are two things I must ask of you first: a question and a request."

" **I shall allow them, since you were so kind as to strip Jashin of the power he stole from me.** **Your question first.** "

"Alright… Kamina Uzumaki. He was the first person to use your powers in our world, to seal Jashin here in the first place. How did he _not_ wind up in your dimension along with him?"

" **I am not sure…** "

The Shinigami's revelation shocked Sasuke and Ino, but it only made Jashin chuckle.

" **When that** _ **BLASTED**_ **Kamina came here, I** _ **WARNED**_ **him that using my powers to** _ **remove someone from the cycle of life and death**_ **was a sin that violated the laws of the universe, and that he had to pay the price by** _ **doing the same to himself…**_ **but he** _ **CONNED**_ **me! All I can say about it for sure is that he moved his arms a little after he summoned me, and the next thing I knew Kamina's soul wasn't in his body when I was going to pull it out of him!** "

 _Kamina moved his arms and his soul left his body before the Shinigami could take it? That sounds like something only a Yamanaka like me could do, using the Mind Transfer in the middle of the sealing… Did that Yoko that Jashin talked about teach Kamina that technique?!_ Ino thought.

" **On to the request!** " the Shinigami shouted.

"That… I only ask this because he is already dead and I won't have a chance to speak to him again once he's free…" Sasuke pointed over to Itachi's soul. "Please… let me talk to my brother one last time. You can give him a portion of your energy so he can hear me, right?"

" **That… is a simple request.** "

The Shinigami made an 'ok' hand gesture and moved toward Itachi. It placed a hand on his chest, and some bluish white flames moved from the ceiling to within Itachi. A few seconds later Itachi dropped to the ground and he felt the impact.

"What is… going on?" Itachi asked aloud, seeing no one else in the vast expanse of black. "I was unable to move but suddenly I-"

Itachi was interrupted by Sasuke hugging him with his only arm. "This feeling… you're here too, Sasuke?"

"Yes, Big Brother, but we're on our way out. I came here to save you and everyone else. Before that, though… there are a few things I need to ask you about."

"I… want to speak with you as well." Itachi nodded and smiled as he received this one final meeting, to hear how far his little brother had come.


	51. Chapter 50: Release from the Shinigami

"Ever since I saw you here, I've been wondering about something." Sasuke said as he looked to Itachi's left arm. "You were able to bring the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror into this dimension… Where did you first get them?"

Upon being asked, Itachi noticed that he could feel a sword's hilt in his right hand and a shield on his left arm. "So that's what these are… How can you see them? I can't see you…"

"Since the last time we were together, I awakened the Rinnegan."

Itachi was taken aback in shock.

"One of its abilities is to see disembodied spirits. That includes _weapons_ as well as people, which is why I asked. I've come to suspect it _wasn't_ you that first found the spiritual weapons, but someone else." As a hint, Sasuke let go of his brother and proceeded to tickle Itachi's right middle finger.

"That's where…" Itachi smirked as he realized what Sasuke meant. "… So you figured it out. Yes, Nagato was indeed the one who gave me these weapons. After I thwarted Orochimaru's attempt to steal my body and exposed him as a traitor, Nagato gave these weapons to me as a reward. Though when he did, he was using a different body than usual. Rather than short and spiky hair, it was long and straight."

Sasuke nodded. "I understand. Nagato channeled different abilities into different bodies. The one he used to give you the weapons had the powers involving splitting apart minds and bodies. Like with you, the weapons must have bonded to Nagato's soul, and he had to sever those parts of his soul from his body to give them to you… by touching you, I assume?"

"Precisely. Nagato tried to take Naruto's soul during our fight in the war… I suppose he did the opposite to give me the weapons."

"That's how I came here. Though I did need some help in learning how… Say, why did Nagato think you could wield the weapons if he couldn't do it himself?"

"That's because I used Susano'o the first time when I defeated Orochimaru and forced him to defect from our organization." Itachi said, surprising Sasuke. "Despite knowing the history Orochimaru had with our parents, to find he was another member of Akatsuki… it _relieved_ me. I thought I'd have some comfort in knowing there was someone else from the village in the group. That I wouldn't have to face what lied ahead all alone like I intended… That dream was crushed the moment he tried to steal my body… That feeling of loss awakened a power in my eyes I didn't know I had until then. A power Nagato saw as befitting the spiritual weapons he had but couldn't use himself."

 _That explains why Orochimaru was so shocked to see Itachi with the Totsuka Blade… Orochimaru was there when Itachi used Susano'o for the first time, and back then Itachi didn't have it!_ Sasuke thought.

"But how did he know that Susano'o was needed to wield them to begin with, Big Brother?" Sasuke asked.

"That is because the weapons _have memories of their own._ Nagato didn't tell me everything, but he said that when he found the weapons, he acquired their memories. Of them being created by their original owner, physically manifesting via a chakra construct similar to my own Susano'o, then being discarded from their soul in the hopes one of his descendants would find them. Nagato figured that the creator was the _Elder Son of the Six Paths_ , and his descendants were the Uchiha clan. After having seen my Susano'o, he thought I could use them. He was right, but not entirely; I had an adverse reaction to having the weapons bonded to my mind."

"You mean that _illness_ you had when we fought. That was caused by the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror not being totally compatible with you, hn… I suppose that's to be expected, since those weapons are fragments of the _Elder Son_ 's spiritual energy, and you didn't have the same chakra he once did. The weapons would try to reject you in some way, and that manifested as your illness."

"Yes, that's it exactly. Nagato was also ill for the same reason until he gave the weapons away, but because of him using the Six Paths of Pain I never noticed it before acquiring the weapons myself. At any rate, it seems like only the Rinnegan can see them in their sealed forms, only a Susano'o can physically manifest them and release their power… and only someone with the _Elder Son_ 's spiritual energy can hold on to them without getting sick… But the _Elder Son of the Six Paths_ is long dead, so I doubt anyone could wield them without drawback anymore…"

"Actually… there is _one person_ who can wield them properly now."

Sasuke's declaration visibly astounded Itachi.

"You never learned who the real mastermind behind Akatsuki was or what they were trying to accomplish, so it's only natural you wouldn't know this either… Indra Otsutsuki, _Elder Son of the Six Paths_ , reincarnated countless times throughout history, each reincarnation being an Uchiha with the same incredibly powerful spiritual energy that he once had. His _reincarnations_ ; they're the only ones who can wield the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror without suffering from the illness you were afflicted with. And Indra's current reincarnation… is _me._ "

"Are you sure about this, Sasuke?" Itachi asked.

"My Rinnegan is the proof. Only Indra's reincarnations can use the spiritual weapons without drawback, and they're also the only ones who can awaken the Rinnegan. And before you ask, Nagato wasn't a reincarnation of Indra. His Rinnegan were awakened by Madara Uchiha after he survived his battle with the First Hokage using Izanagi, absorbing some of his DNA, then almost dying of old age around the same time Nagato was born. I'm Indra's current reincarnation, and Madara was the previous one."

"I see… so Nagato and I knew even less about what was going on than we thought. Nevertheless, I'm glad that you will be able to take these weapons off my hands without hurting yourself. Nagato… He's still stuck inside the Totsuka Blade. Someone needs to free him and let his soul pass on to the Pure World, and I won't be able to do it after you release us."

"Thank you, Brother…"

Sasuke nodded as he placed his hand on the Yata Mirror, removing it from Itachi's soul and absorbing it into his own. The shield became strapped to Sasuke's back. Next, he did the same with the Totsuka Blade, overlaying the place his sword would normally be, stuck to his waist with the hilt at Sasuke's right side. And with both weapons came their memories; being created by Indra, used in battle against Asura, discarded before Indra's death, found centuries later by Nagato, given to Itachi, used by Itachi to seal away the part of Orochimaru that attempted to take Sasuke's own body, then used again after Itachi's revival to seal away Nagato, and finally being passed on to Sasuke himself.

The transaction ended when both weapons changed colour from Itachi orange-red to Sasuke's dark purple, finalizing the bond to Sasuke's soul. "I'll make sure Nagato is freed when we get out of here… Now then, I have a Shinigami to slice."

With those words, Sasuke turned around to face the Shinigami.

"Hold on… just one more thing…" Itachi objected, halting Sasuke's movement. "I love you, Sasuke."

"I love you too, Itachi."

Sasuke turned his head back and smiled, and after just one more second to embrace looking back to his brother for the last time, he turned forward to the Shinigami and drew the Totsuka Blade. He reached the Shinigami once more, but hesitated before attacking. "Any last words before emptying the Shinigami? Ino… Jashin?"

 _Jashin… That was the god Hidan worshipped, isn't it? He was… in here all along? Did you fight and defeat Jashin, Sasuke? To defeat a god… you've certainly grown stronger than I could have possibly imagined… Then again, you have my Mangekyo Sharingan and Nagato's Rinnegan, so I suppose it's only natural that you'd surpass us both. I am… proud to be your brother, Sasuke._ Itachi thought.

"Last words? … I have _something_ like those…" Jashin let out a faint chuckle, startling Sasuke. "This battle we had… it was _only the beginning._ When I'm released from here, I won't be going to the Pure World right away. There are still two places my soul could wind up… I wonder if you can find them before I acquire my next vessel… Hee hee hee…"

"Two places, hn…" Sasuke smirked. "Good. If it's just two places, then I know what those places are. We'll be meeting again, don't you worry… And when I do, you're going to lose again… _permanently._ "

"I have something to say, too!" Ino interjected. "What you were talking with Itachi about… I got most of it, but there were a few things I didn't get… like what Itachi would 'have to face' after leaving the village… Did he just mean fighting you, or what?"

Ino's question stunned Itachi speechless, though Sasuke was much calmer hearing it.

"It's better if you don't know for now." Sasuke said, knowing Itachi could hear every word they were saying. However, Sasuke proceeded to sheath the Totsuka Blade and poke Ino's forehead, smiling as he continued, Ino's light blue cheeks turning red all the while:

"… but if things ever get serious between you and Sai, come ask me again. We both know he can't keep a secret to save his life."

As soon as he finished his promise, Sasuke took his hand off Ino's forehead and drew the Totsuka Blade once more. "Now… let's all leave this world, and return to where we rightfully belong."

Without another word Sasuke wound up for a swing, bringing the Totsuka Blade up behind his left shoulder. Then he brought the spiritual sword down in a diagonal slice, wounding the Shinigami's abdomen, and in the next instant all the souls in the Shinigami's dimension were sucked into its wound. It started with those with physical energy, followed by all the rest, and the next thing they knew they were flying out of the point of connection and back to where their souls were meant to be.

[X-X-X]

At the Hidden Leaf Hospital…

"Wha… what's going on?" Suigetsu thought aloud as he opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital room, lying down in what seemed to be a slug similar to the ones he saw when he, Karin, and Orochimaru saved the Five Kage during the Fourth Ninja World War. He got up to find that Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru were beside him inside the slug, waking up along with him. Then he noticed the doctor in the room, a familiar face with white skin, purple eye markings, and glasses.

"Kabuto?! What the fuck happened?! Where are Sasuke, Karin, and Butsuma?! They were with me right before… I don't know. I was swallowed by this unending darkne-"

Suigetsu was cut off by Kabuto putting a finger to his lips.

"Shh… you'll disrupt the other patients here." Kabuto whispered. "That you're waking up means that Sasuke _succeeded…_ I'll explain everything that's happened since your endeavour at the Southern Hideout."

[X-X-X]

At said Southern Hideout…

"Okay… all I need to do is release my Hundred Strengths Seal. Then I'll be able to summon a large enough piece of Katsuyu…" Tsunade declared as she, Sai, and Lee landed on the wrecked island where Aoda's body was. She disembarked from the bird made of ink first then made the appropriate hand seals, but before she could finish, she was distracted by Aoda moving his head all on his own:

"Do noth… sthummon anything… Justh… heal my thongue…"

T giant blue snake laid his head down near the group of three and opened his mouth to reveal four puncture wounds on his tongue.

"Very well then, Aoda… I'll heal your tongue, and then you can go back to Ryuchi Cave on your own." Tsunade grinned as she raised her sleeves.

"What does this mean, Sai-kun?" Lee asked. "Aoda-san just woke up on his own…"

"That must mean… Sasuke has freed everyone from the Shinigami." Sai inferred with a smile, but that smile quickly faded into a frown. "Unfortunately, since Lord Butsuma's body was destroyed when Sasuke used Planetary Devastation, he could not make it no matter what we did. My apologies, Lady Fifth… Your great grandfather is dead. For good, this time."

Upon hearing the news, Tsunade cried a single tear before smiling, still focused on healing Aoda. "But that does mean his soul can rest in peace now… and that's all I was betting on anyway."

[X-X-X]

Meanwhile, Ino found her way back to her body to find it wasn't damaged in any way. While relieved that Jashin was telling the truth about keeping her body 'fair and flawless' as he touched it, the thought of him touching her still disturbed her. But she stopped thinking about herself within seconds, because she saw the condition of Shikamaru's body.

"Shikamaru!"

Ino ran to his side and promptly put both her hands on Shikamaru's left shoulder, beginning to heal however much she could.

"Ino… so we're back?" Shikamaru asked, struggling to raise his voice.

"Don't talk! You're hurt!"

Shikamaru silently nodded and let Ino proceed without interruptions. However, one voice did interrupt her:

"Ino? Shikamaru? What happened to us?"

The voice belonged to Choji, who stood up and approached their position.

"We were in the Shinigami!" Ino said, shocking both her teammates. "I helped Sasuke get us out and beat the snot out of the guy that put us in there! … Well, Sasuke did pretty much all the work, since I didn't have enough physical energy for any jutsu…"

Choji scratched his head. "The Shinigami… and Sasuke? I trust you, but you're not making a lot of sense…"

"It'll take some time to explain!" Ino shouted. "I can do it and heal Shikamaru at the same time! You go look for clues as to what happened to Jashin and Hidan, Choji!"

"Alright, Ino… I'll do it!"

Choji jogged over to the cart that their team once held Hidan in. Much to his surprise, all the boxes in the cart were open and strewn about on the ground. "Looks like whoever was here released Hidan and put him back together…"

Then Choji looked down and noticed something else peculiar:

"There are two sets of footprints that start here and go further east. One of them belongs to Hidan, I can tell that much. The other… I don't know, but they were barefoot, and have bigger feet than Hidan…"

"That's gotta be Jashin!" Ino deduced. "The guy that called himself Jashin was barefoot when he fought with us, and was bigger than Hidan to boot! And there's no one else alive that Hidan would willingly follow! As soon as I'm done healing Shikamaru's shoulder as best I can, we're following those footsteps! Come on: Jashin might have fought someone else on the way to Whirlpool Island, and those people need our help!"

Choji tilted his head in confusion. "Whirlpool Island? You mean where the Hidden Whirlpool Village was before it was destroyed in the Third Ninja World War? … What would Jashin want in a place like that, Ino?"

"To answer that, I need to start from the beginning… here's everything I learned inside the Shinigami."

[X-X-X]

On the other end of those footprints…

Killer B had spent the past few hours inside what seemed to be an eternal darkness with the only light coming from bluish white flames in the sky. It was an incredibly boring experience for him, unable to move and unable to hear himself sing. When he would wake up back in his body, however, he found that the dull life inside the Shinigami was preferable to the horror that awaited him once he left it.

B first noticed that his left arm was gone, and in its place was a blood stain covering the entire left side of his body.

"Was my awesome attack a dud?! I lost my left arm to an explosion of blood! … Say it ain't so! I got the same wound as my bro!"

The next thing he observed was that Karin's bound body was nowhere to be seen.

"I couldn't save the lady in red… I feel just a tiny bit dead…"

That wasn't nearly the worst of it, however; he would soon turn his head to find Gyuki's body laying limp just about a hundred metres away.

"Gyuki, it's your partner Killer B! If you can hear me, then say 'Whee!'…"

There was no response. B hoped Gyuki was just unconscious, and so walked over to his body, struggling to keep balance having just lost an arm. Eventually he reached Gyuki's body and climbed to his head to wake his best friend up, but during his ascent he noticed two stab wounds at the back of Gyuki's neck, and at the moment of discovery all of B's hope had turned to despair.

"No… You were my partner in crime… together at Turtle Island, we did the time…" B sang, but his voice was depressed, and he soon changed his lyrics' tune. "Oh what's the point… without you, I'm in no mood to rhyme…"

B laid down on Gyuki's back, not feeling the energy he once did as Gyuki's death deflated all the tension in his body, sending him into a lethargic trance. That's why he failed to notice that he was slipping off Gyuki's body until he felt the impact of hitting the ground from a fall chest-first.

"Damn… I didn't know I could be this weak of a man…" B remarked in self-pity, but even in his depression B could notice something in the distance: a trail of footsteps that ended nearby.

With nothing else fueling his life's drive, B decided to follow the footprints in the opposite direction to see what awaited him on the other side.

"Gyuki… you won't always be gone… All I can do… is keep waiting for you… and live on…"

[X-X-X]

Back on Whirlpool Island…

As soon as Sasuke found himself in his body, he stood up and ran to where he remembered Hinata was. To his surprise, he found Sakura - and _only_ Sakura - tending to Hinata's injury. Sakura being present wasn't what took him aback; it was the lack of Karin or, as of this moment, Naruto.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura and Hinata exclaimed in unison upon seeing Sasuke return from the Shinigami's dimension, Sakura kneeling down with her hands on what remained of Hinata's right leg and healing her.

"Sakura, Hinata… Jashin's lost all his Shinigami Energy and everyone was freed. The souls that Jashin took should all be going back to their bodies at any time now." Sasuke reported with a smile.

"Does that mean we won, that the world is safe from Jashin once and for all?!" Sakura enthusiastically asked.

Sasuke's smile turned upside down and his eyes narrowed. "No… Jashin's not done yet. There are two places in the world Jashin's mind could have gone."

"Two places? What would those be, Sasuke-kun?" Hinata wondered, having recovered enough strength to talk normally.

"I learned that one becomes a follower of Jashin by drinking _the blood from his original body_ , from what Jashin calls his Holy Grail _._ Someone with Jashin's original blood in them could be somewhere Jashin might wind up, or he might end up in the Holy Grail _**itself**_ , waiting for the first person to drink from it from here on to become his new vessel."

Sakura's eyes widened. "But the only follower of Jashin after the Purge was…"

"… Hidan." All three said at once.

"Yes… _Hidan's_ the key to finding Jashin either way." Sasuke said. "Either Jashin possessed Hidan's body, or he's gone to the Holy Grail. And Hidan must know where it is, since he _drank_ from it."

Sasuke turned his attention toward Hinata. "Do you have enough chakra to use your Byakugan to search the island and the waters beneath for Hidan's whereabouts?"

"She can't do it right now; she needs healing!" Sakura objected.

Sasuke walked behind the women and knelt down, placing his hand on Hinata's back. "Then let me pass her some of my chakra."

Sakura looked down in irritation. " _I_ can do that, Sasuke-kun… And you might not even be able to do it; _transferring_ chakra is a completely different skill than _combining_ chakra…"

"But you need to focus on _healing_ , Sakura. As for transferring chakra… If it's Hinata, then I can do it. No doubt in my mind."

"If it's me… why are you so sure, Sasuke-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Because our chakra signatures are very similar. Your Twin Lion Fists and my Susano'o: both of them are _Shape Manipulation_ techniques, and they're both the _same colour._ They wouldn't both be _purple_ if our chakra, in their purest forms, weren't similar to begin with. It won't be nearly as powerful as when Naruto passed chakra to either of us, since his colour, _yellow_ , is _complementary_ to ours rather than _similar…_ but it should be easier for us to connect in theory."

"Then… it's worth a try." Hinata nodded, steeling herself. "Please transfer some of your chakra, Sasuke-kun."

The Uchiha nodded in turn and focused his chakra into his hand, and further aimed his chakra for Hinata's spine. Just as he thought, the transition was seamless and Hinata soon received enough chakra to use her Byakugan despite her serious wound. She blinked once and her Byakugan was activated. After looking through the southern half of the island with the precision of a fine-toothed comb, she deactivated her Byakugan and shook her head:

"Hidan is _not_ on this side of the island… Sorry Sasuke-kun, Sakura-san…"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Hidan must have followed the swift currents around to the _northern_ side of the island, too far for your Byakugan to see."

"The Hidden Whirlpool Village is just a little ways north of the centre…" Sakura said. "That's where Karin and Kurama - sorry, Naruto – are right now. Karin wanted to dispel the barrier and Kurama offered to protect her while she was doing it, leaving me to heal Hinata by myself."

"Then we need to head back right away." Sasuke commanded as he stood up and turned north. "I'll go on ahead to the Hidden Whirlpool Village. You two follow me when the healing is finished."

"Actually… I'm feeling pretty good now, Sasuke-kun." Hinata smiled and relaxed her muscles. "We can follow you right away…"

"We're going to take longer getting there, though." Sakura said as she stopped healing Hinata's right leg and spun around, squatting with her back to Hinata.

"Hinata can't run without half her right leg, fully healed or otherwise, so I'll have to carry her. That will slow us down. You okay with that, Hinata?" Sakura asked with her head tilted so she could see Hinata out of the corner of her left eye.

Hinata hugged Sakura from behind with both arms from where she was sitting. "Yes. Thank you so much, Sakura-san."

Sakura promptly stood up while holding Hinata's butt up with both her hands to keep her from falling.

"Please go on ahead, Sasuke-kun… We'll be with you shortly." Hinata declared.

"Alright."

Sasuke nodded, and then quickly started running for the Hidden Whirlpool Village, where he awaited Karin, Naruto… and Hidan.


	52. Chapter 51: The Soul Attractor Field

Karin paced in circles, desperate to move on her own for the first time in almost a day now that the chains that bound her were removed by Sakura and Kurama. "So let me get this straight… After Jashin abducted me, Sasuke came back to the Hidden Leaf and took you with him here, to the Hidden Whirlpool Village. He combined his Rinnegan with Hinata's Byakugan to see where the Shinigami's dimension was linked to our world, but found that Jashin was taking Hidan and me there. So Sasuke improvised by swapping himself and Hinata with _me_ in order to hijack Jashin's attempt to steal my body, intending on defeating Jashin in his own mind to force him back to the Shinigami… and destroying both halves at once while he's in there."

"Yeah, that's the gist of it." Sakura said. "Then Kurama and I released you from those chains."

" **We also found this barrier over here.** " Kurama added while pointing to the seal tag with two drops of blood on it. " **According to Sasuke, you are the only one still alive who can break the seal… and it contains Kagemaru's mind.** "

Karin doubled over in shock. "My father… I'll be able to speak to him, then! I need to dispel this barrier! One of you, give me a kunai…. fuck…" her mood suddenly swung from excitement to fear. "Hinata… her chakra's critically low! She needs medical attention _now!_ "

"Then let's all go together!" Sakura turned south. "Between the two of us, healing her will take no time at all!"

"I'm really sorry, Sakura… but I can't come with you." Karin objected as she faced the barrier. "I've been bound head-to-toe in chains for almost a whole day. My body needs a little more time to adjust… I'd slow you down if I went now. There's also this barrier here. I can't just leave it behind now that it's right in front of me."

"I… I see. You do what you need to do. I'll take care of Hinata! Cha!"

At those words, Sakura leaped southbound, entering a dash toward the injured Hinata.

" **What about me?** " Kurama asked.

"You stay. I'm going to need a kunai to cut myself so I can break this barrier. And someone will have to stand guard as I'm meeting my father inside my head."

Kurama chuckled at the declaration.

"What's so funny?!"

" **I'm just getting _nostalgic,_ that's all.** **Meeting one's father after undoing a seal… It's just like how my partner met Minato. After Nagato nearly killed Hinata, Naruto was so angry that he bonded with my own hatred without even thinking about it, and almost unleashed me completely. I would have been _free_ were it not for Minato embedding a portion of his chakra into my seal, set to activate and reseal me in the event that the seal was broken…**"

"Nagato…" Karin looked up as she approached the barrier, Kurama raising an eyebrow. "That reminds me… My clan's been responsible for a lot of your suffering. Jashin and Kagura the First killed you; Mito and Aunt Kushina imprisoned you for nearly a century; Nagato tried to capture you and put Naruto through hell in order to do it; then Jashin split you and Naruto apart… On behalf of all of them, I'm sorry."

" **No… you should not apologize for any of that.** **You might be from the same clan, but nothing that they did is your responsibility. Besides, my history with the Uzumaki wasn't entirely bad… Naruto is an Uzumaki too, and it is thanks to what the Uzumaki had done that I managed to meet him. So… while I would be lying if I said I do not resent your clan on some level, your clan has also brought _good_ things to me… and because of them, I can forgive all the rest.**"

Karin smiled and blushed. "Th… Thank you, Kurama."

Then she focused back down on the seal tag with two drops of blood. _That's odd… There's a bit of chakra in this tag that's an awful lot like mine…_

"Now, hand me a kunai." Karin said. Kurama nodded, and then searched Naruto's back pouch for a kunai. As soon as he found one, Kurama took out the kunai and handed it to Karin, who received it with her right hand. She slit her left wrist over top the seal tag, allowing some blood to drop on to it before promptly biting herself to heal off the damage. In the next instant, a flash of light engulfed her vision, and she found a visitor inside her mind.

[X-X-X]

"Kagura, is that you? Half your hair is different and you're wearing glasses, but otherwise you look just the same as you did when you were evacuated off the island…"

"No… I'm not Kagura."

Karin instinctively hugged the man in front of her. He appeared very similar to the body Jashin inhabited up until a few minutes ago, but his robes weren't as tattered, he was wearing black sandals instead of going barefoot, and there were no wrinkles on his face. Karin was certain of it; this man was her father, taking the form he had the moment he lost his body.

"I'm Karin… your daughter!"

"Karin… Yes, that would have been the name of my child if they were a girl…" Kagemaru hugged Karin back. "Tell me… what's happened to your mother?"

Karin's expression turned from sweet to sour. "Mom… is dead. She's been gone for eleven years now… I sensed her chakra disappear when I was seven."

"So you're eighteen years old now. You look a fair bit older than that, though…"

"I used a technique that had the cost of making me age… I might look anywhere between twenty-five and forty, but I'm still an eighteen-year-old girl at heart, turning nineteen in six months."

" _Six months_ … So it's January. The village was destroyed nineteen years ago during this very month. I've… lost track of time since I was stuck in that barrier. How am I talking to you anyway?"

"You don't know? Someone must have placed this barrier on the ground between the first Bijuudama and Jashin's release, and when Jashin took over your body your mind was ejected… and somehow found its way inside. One would think that you'd know what happened to yourself…"

"It is very strange indeed…" Kagemaru looked away from Karin in confusion.

"The answer to that question is an easy one!" Someone shouted from a certain distance away.

While still embracing each other Karin and Kagemaru looked to Karin's right, the direction of this third voice, and spotted a woman with wavy shoulder-length red hair and purple eyes wearing a white kimono top, red hakama, and beige sandals; she would look like a priestess from a feudal fairy tale were it not for the glasses she was wearing, similar to Karin's own but with black frames instead of blue.

She swiftly approached the father-and-daughter duo. "The man doesn't know what happened to himself because he was the one who set the barrier in the first place!"

"You… you must be the fragment of chakra I sensed inside the seal right before I unsealed it!" Karin accused as she broke away from her hug and pointed at the woman. Upon closer inspection, however, the woman's facial features were startlingly similar to Karin's, even if her hairstyle and eye colour were different. "Wait… you _look_ a whole lot like me too. Who the fuck are you?!"

"Oh my… you have such a _foul_ mouth!" the woman laughed. "If you really want to know so badly, I may as well tell you… I'm _Karin Uzumaki,_ or at least a copy of her!"

Karin's eyes widened upon the implication. "Karin Uzumaki? I'm… _named_ after you. My name is _also_ Karin Uzumaki… _Karin Uzumaki the Second_ to be precise."

After hearing that, Karin the First looked over to Kagemaru with a cold stare. "Was this woman's naming **_your_** idea?"

Kagemaru froze stiff from the power of her glare alone. All Kagemaru could do to respond was nod.

"Well that's a shame. I _so_ want to beat you senseless for naming your _beloved_ child after someone as _insignificant_ as me, but I fear that if I'm violent toward you, you'll be forced to leave your daughter prematurely. That and I'll disappear too."

Kagemaru finally gathered enough nerve to speak to his wife's ancestor. "What do you mean by _insignificant_ , Lady Karin the First? You were the one who invented this ability to place one's own chakra into seals to form copies, weren't you? That was just as important to history as Lord Kamina's creation of the Shinigami Mask."

Karin the First crossed her arms in irritation. "No… that was _also_ because of Kamina, with Yoko's help. You must be getting it mixed up because you lost your memory of the Soul Attractor Field after using it."

"Soul Attractor Field? Is that the name of the barrier Dad's mind was sealed in until now?" Karin the Second thought asked.

"Yep, that's the one!" Karin the First winked. "The Soul Attractor Field… It was invented by Kamina and Yoko so Kamina would survive using the Shinigami Mask to seal Jashin away…"

"So you know how Kamina survived using the **_Shinigami Mask?!_** Please tell me everything… from the beginning!"

"Alright… slow down there, sister…" Karin the First sighed. "I suppose it starts with my and Kamina's birth. We were conceived right after Mother won the leadership of the clan from Jashin and forced him into exile, Kamina being born just seconds before me. We ended up fighting over the leadership of the clan because of it; I learned everything just a tiny bit faster than Kamina did, but when Kamina caught up to me his results were always slightly superior. Anyway, we were at a standstill and the entire clan was divided between who should lead for years. That was solved when Mother brought up Jashin; one sibling could lead the clan while the other could find and defeat Jashin. Given that option, Kamina forfeited leadership of the clan to me and volunteered to head out on his own to find Jashin. Since it would end the constant competition between us, and Kamina, Mother, and I could all sense an extremely powerful physical energy within my brother, I agreed."

 _Extremely powerful physical energy? Does that mean Kamina was Asura's reincarnation like Naruto and the First Hokage?_ Karin the Second thought.

"Eventually Lord Kamina found a portal to the Shinigami's dimension at the south edge of Whirlpool Island, hoping to use the strange energy there to defeat Jashin… I recall that much." Kagemaru said.

"Very good! The first thing he did when he found it was return to the clan to report the news. It took him years to find us though, and by the time he did I was married and pregnant with my son Ashina. Kamina couldn't believe it; during the discussion we had about the Shinigami's dimension he couldn't stop apologizing profusely for missing my wedding!"

Karin the First began laughing hysterically at her own story.

Karin the Second's eyes twitched. "Can you cut the crap and get back to what really matters right now?"

"Wow… so much **_spunk!_** " Karin the First hugged her successor with glee. "I guess sharing my name wasn't such a bad idea, since you look like me, have chakra like me, and even _act_ like me on some level… But from one Karin to another, you need to let a lady have **_fun_** the one time she can before she ceases to exist. I'm just a copy, after all!"

"I guess you're right about that… Just don't let your enjoyment distract you from what you have to say, got it?"

"Understood!" Karin the First smiled and let go of her descendant. "When Kamina told me about the Shinigami's dimension, he believed he had to split his mind from his body in order to get in. That's when he announced his intention to find the Yamanaka clan and get them to teach him the Mind Transfer Jutsu. So he left once again, and when he found the Yamanaka their leader's daughter Yoko volunteered to join Kamina on his travels. She did so for much the same reason Kamina left our clan in my hands: she had a twin brother named Sino, and they competed for the title of Clan Leader until Kamina conveniently gave them a means to settle the conflict. So Yoko travelled with Kamina while Sino became the twelfth head of the Yamanaka clan. It was their similar circumstances that allowed them to bond beyond simple necessity, and they fell in love on their way back to Whirlpool Island. I learned all that along with Kamina making the _Shinigami Mask_ the next time he returned, with Yoko and their infant daughter Nia with him, natura-."

"Hold on!" Karin the Second interrupted. "It wasn't until the First Hokage and Mito Uzumaki got married that ninja in general stopped pursuing civilians! But the twin siblings of the Uzumaki and Yamanaka clan heads getting married would have made the same sort of impact a whole generation too early!"

"Lord Kamina and Lady Yoko _never got married_ _,_ my daughter." Kagemaru explained. "Lord Ashina, your mother's grandfather and Lady Karin the First's son, told your mother and me about Lord Kamina and Lady Yoko. They were always on the move; that couple never stayed in the same place long enough to hold a wedding. And even if they wanted to, their status in their clans prevented them from having their relationship be made public. We Uzumaki were allied with the Senju clan, and the Yamanaka held a long-standing alliance with the Akimichi and Nara clans. An adequate wedding for Lord Kamina and Lady Yoko would have required _all five clans_ to attend at the very least. An affair like that would have taken lots of time and resources to prepare, and it would have attracted a lot of attention. A wedding on that scale would effectively place a _target_ on all our clans at once, most of all the Senju, who were known continent-wide as the _Uchiha clan's Greatest Enemy._ "

Karin the Second nodded in tandem with her father's exposition. "Yeah, I can get why they never married, I guess," she replied when it was finished.

"That would also make me your _great great grandmother_ , other Karin!" Karin the First added. "Anyway, when I saw Kamina with Yoko and little Nia, my brother told me they were planning on developing a way to survive using the Shinigami Mask, since he was warned by the Shinigami that he'd have to give up his soul if he intended to do the same to anyone else."

"The _Soul Attractor Field._ " Karin the Second inferred.

"Exactly! Unfortunately, they had to devote all their time to the technique and hunting down Jashin, so they couldn't raise Nia on their own as long as their mission was ongoing, and they asked me to raise her for the time being. I accepted, but I feared that Kamina and Yoko might never return from their mission, so after a while I opted to resign from my status as Clan Leader and let Mother take her position back until Ashina was old enough to take the mantle himself. Then I left the clan myself so I could deliver Nia to her Yamanaka relatives. They would have been safer guardians, between the Uchiha clan and Jashin providing dangers to my clan that the Yamanaka didn't need to worry about. My plan was to search out Sino and give him custody of Nia, and look for Kamina and Yoko after that to inform them of my decision. But that plan caught a snag. While I was traveling I sensed the evil properties of Jashin's chakra that Mother warned me about approach Kamina and Yoko a few kilometres away, then Yoko's chakra disappeared, and seconds later I sensed Kamina's disappear at the same time as Jashin's."

"I think I know what happened…" Karin the Second replied, her eyes wide with realization. "Kamina or Yoko must have set the Soul Attractor Field when Kamina sensed Jashin coming, and then Yoko used the Mind Transfer on Jashin to keep his body steady while Kamina summoned the Shinigami with the Mask. Then Yoko released her hold on Jashin, going into the _Soul Attractor Field_ instead of her body as the Shinigami reached for Jashin's body… And after the Shinigami took Jashin's soul, but before passing through Kamina's… Kamina… used the Mind Transfer _himself_ and wound up in the Soul Attractor Field too, making the Shinigami take Jashin's soul without sacrificing his own. You then arrived at the scene after the battle and broke the seal, right?!"

"That's totally it… such a **_smart_** great great granddaughter I have!" Karin the First pumped her arms in excitement. "That's when I learned about the Soul Attractor Field from the piece of chakra Kamina left in it as he set the barrier down. You see, the barrier wasn't perfect yet by the time Jashin fought Kamina and Yoko, since placing the barrier came at the cost of _forgetting the technique._ Kamina and Yoko thus came up with a way to remind themselves about it by placing a fragment of their chakra with the memory of the jutsu intact into the seal to _tell their future selves what they forgot_. It's simple enough in most cases, but when I had to undo the seal because _both_ lovebirds trapped themselves in it, I had **_two Kamina's_** with different memories **_and_** Yoko inside my head! I had a really hard time keeping track of who was speaking, what with two guys that looked identical and had the same name trying to converse with me at the same time…"

Karin the Second and Kagemaru promptly gave her blank stares, dead silent.

"Oh… I suppose that applies to this delightful family reunion too, doesn't it? Ha ha ha…" Karin the First's laughter trailed into silence.

"So what happened to Lord Kamina's and Lady Yoko's souls after they spoke to you and Lord Kamina's chakra copy?" Kagemaru asked.

"Ah, that! They just went back to their bodies and lived on, obviously. The point of the Soul Attractor Field was to **_survive_** the Shinigami Mask, not to die normally!"

"Then it's possible I could… be returned to life?" Kagemaru's eyes lit with wonder at the prospect.

Karin the Second tearfully shook her head. "Sorry, Dad… but not in your case. I just… saw your body explode into a pool of blood. Jashin tried to take my body just like he took yours nineteen years ago, but Sasuke saved me at the last possible second. When you leave my mind, Dad… you're going to _die._ "

"I see…" Kagemaru hugged his daughter once again, himself crying. "At least I will be able to spend my final moments in life with my child… and I'll be able to join your mother once again in the next world… So… if I have to die here, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"There's not much time to waste, you know!" Karin the First interjected. "They might have been returned to life, but Kamina and Yoko still died _that same day!_ Telling you about this is the whole reason I put my own chakra in the seal after Kamina's expired!"

Karin the Second turned her head to her great great grandmother's direction, still hugged by her father. "Really?"

"Yeah… After releasing them from the Soul Attractor Field, Kamina and Yoko gave me the Shinigami Mask and the seal tags they developed to safely return them to the Uzumaki clan in exchange for Nia, who they intended to raise with the Yamanaka. So we did the exchange and went our separate ways. But when Kamina, Yoko, and Nia were _just_ about to leave the range of my _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique, I felt Kamina and Yoko's chakra disappear _again_ , and in their place was a chakra that felt _even more evil_ than Jashin's that seemed to _emerge from the planet_. I rushed to where I sensed their chakra disappear, but by the time I arrived, not only was their chakra gone, their _bodies_ vanished without a trace too, along with the mystery killer, who I couldn't detect anywhere. The only one I sensed nearby was Nia, who was covered in her parents' blood but otherwise untouched. That's when I learned that Jashin _wasn't alone,_ and wasn't who Kamina assumed he was."

"So you figured out the Jashin that fought Kamina was Jashin _the First_ , rather than Jashin _the Second?_ Then Sasuke _wasn't_ the first one to identify him; **_you_** were! Jashin just wasn't around to learn about it!" Karin the Second inferred.

Karin the First cleared her throat before continuing. "When Jashin introduced himself to Kamina, he called himself 'Jashin Uzumaki' and it registered as the truth, but with different chakra, Kamina was convinced he had to be Jashin's son and not the man himself. I accepted that as the only possibility… until I sensed my brother and Yoko getting murdered. I figured that the entire scenario was too conveniently set up for it to not have been _planned in advance._ Not even a day later and my brother and his lover are killed after sealing away Jashin by someone with similarly evil properties in their chakra, close enough for me to _sense it happening_ but too far away for me to _do anything about it?_ It's like the killer was **_taunting_** me with the fact he'll get away with murder, and that they knew the powers I possessed. And when I finally got there, no evidence of the murderer or the victims were there except the infant Nia, that the killer _went out of their way to leave behind_ covered in her parents' blood. That got me thinking: why would the murderer spare Nia? If they were evil enough to make Nia an orphan in the first place, then they'd have no morals holding them back from killing her too. So the reason must have been _pragmatic_. I deduced it was another message _to me;_ the killer knew about Nia's bastard heritage, and they were threatening me with it."

"How does all that relate to discerning Jashin's identity?" Karin the Second asked.

"It relates because I realized how the killer knew everything needed to set up Kamina and Yoko's murder. Nia's parents, my sensing ability… Both of those things could have been spotted if they _watched the battle Kamina and Yoko had with Jashin_ and stuck around to see me undo the seal and make the trade after the fact. But if the killer knew Kamina and Yoko were Nia's parents because of that, then they'd also know I had the _Shinigami Mask…_ and they let me keep it. That means the killer _wanted it_ to be used by me or my clan, to release Jashin presumably. But the killer releasing Jashin wouldn't be doing the killer any favours; the killer and Jashin could have been accomplices, and Jashin being stuck in the Shinigami made the killer's life easier with one less witness around to expose them. So it was clear that **_Jashin_** was the one calling the shots. _He_ was the true mastermind behind Kamina's and Yoko's deaths, _planning his own sealing_ and giving the killer orders to follow after the fact. The only person I could think of that the killer would willingly serve at the expense of themselves would be someone they highly respected… like _their god._ "

" _Jashin Uzumaki the First…_ " Kagemaru said. "You realized that Jashin stole his son's body in some way in preparation for the battle with Lord Kamina and Lady Yoko, so he'd be able to disappear from the world and make it believe he had truly become a god. I recall Lord Ashina telling me that our clan desperately looked for any sources of Jashin's evil energy to find the man himself until the formation of the Hidden Villages. But in truth, you were looking for _Jashin's accomplice_ , using Jashin himself as a cover for your actions to deflect suspicion from the killer, weren't you?"

"You've got that right. I predicted that the killer was planning on releasing Jashin eventually, so instead of openly defying the killer's expectations, I _pretended to go along with them_. The first way I did that was lie to the Yamanaka; I told them that Kamina and Yoko died fighting Jashin the Second when I delivered Nia to them as originally planned. That news spread, and eventually the world at large believed Jashin the First was still out there."

 _So that's how Butsuma ended up with the wrong information…_ Karin the Second thought.

"After that, I returned to my clan and spread the same lie, resumed my post as Clan Leader, and commanded the clan to go after Jashin the First as top priority. The only people I told the truth to were Mother and Ashina, who could see through my lies anyway, and swore them to secrecy about our **_real_** priority target. Then I made one final precaution in case our hunt failed and we were forced to release Jashin: I modified the Soul Attractor Field's seal tags, first with my own chakra to explain all of this to the one who releases the seal, and then by _restricting the tags_ so that only a pure-blooded member of the Kagura Dynasty could break them. If our settlement ever got attacked, the Kagura Dynasty would be evacuated, so the only ones who could break the seal are those whose bodies _Jashin couldn't take_. Making sure Jashin couldn't learn I was on to him is also the reason why the Soul Attractor Field removes memories to this day. Jashin wouldn't be able to access memories if _the body he stole has forgotten them_ … Phew, that was a mouthful! My memory ends here; I'm just a copy after all!"

Kagemaru sighed with relief. "So that's why I couldn't remember."

"But what about Aunt Kushina?!" Karin the Second objected. "You didn't know because you forgot it, Dad, and Jashin didn't know for the same reason, but Aunt Kushina thought she could break the seal herself and she didn't lose her memory!"

"Kushina was likely never told about it. She was extradited from the village at a very early age to become the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki after Lady Mito, who died shortly after Kushina moved because of the Nine-Tails' extraction. Even though Lady Mito might have known, being Lady Karin the First's second child and Lord Ashina's younger sister, she would not have had the chance to tell her. From then on, Kushina only occasionally visited the village to visit me and your mother, but your mother didn't become Head Ninja until _after_ the last time I recall Kushina visiting. It's possible the knowledge regarding the Soul Attractor Field was only passed down from one Head Ninja to the next starting with the formation of the Hidden Villages, and your mother only learned it after Kushina stopped visiting. I was probably only allowed to know at all because I was her husband."

"I suppose that makes sense." Karin the Second looked upward in reminiscence, faintly laughing. "There's a barrier that's inherited the same way as the Soul Attractor Field in the Hidden Cloud."

After saying that, Karin sensed her namesake's chakra fading from her subconscious. She looked back in her direction to see that she was also literally fading away.

"Oops! Looks like my time is up!" Karin the First blushed and smiled as her body was disappearing. "I did everything I was created to do, so it's only natural I'd leave right now!"

Before she could disappear completely however, she gave her successor one last hug. "It was only a short while, but I'm really glad to have met you. I'm proud to know my name and my bloodline still live on today in such a wonderful kunoichi! I'm just a copy, but I'm sure the real Karin the First would have been just as happy and full of love as I am right now!"

Suddenly, Karin the Second started crying. "Wait… Don't go yet, Great Great Grandma! … I still need to know one thing… Please tell me… did you ever meet a man called _Sasuke Sarutobi?_ "

"I'm really sorry, but I don't know! I'm only a copy; my memories are limited to what I knew at the time I was created. I had no idea I'd go on to become a mother of _two_ children, for example… If I _did_ meet Sasuke Sarutobi, it must have been after I was created. Better try somewhere else, if you really want to know."

By this point only Karin the First's face had not yet faded:

"All the same… I leave my legacy in your capable hands. Goodbye, _Karin…_ "

With those final words, Karin's great great grandmother disappeared into the light, leaving a weeping Karin and her father, who moved to hold his daughter in his arms.

Karin removed her glasses and wiped them with the edges of her dress as her tears dried. "Wow… Great Great Grandma was _amazing._ She had so much energy, so much charisma, so much cunning… and she was filled with love, despite everything she lost… She called herself _insignificant_ , but she was anything but. A **_weakling_** like me doesn't deserve the same name as someone as **_strong_** as she was… I can't even use my chains if Sasuke isn't in danger…"

In response to Karin's desolate rant, Kagemaru let go of his daughter and violently grabbed both of her shoulders. "Dad? What are you doing?"

"That's no way to honour your great great grandmother's name, Karin! You're _disappointing her_ with this weeping! Hold your head up high and wear your name _proudly_ like she would want you to!"

Karin closed her eyes to avoid the pain of her unaided sight, but also afraid of facing her father in her current state. "But compared to her, I'm -"

" ** _Not all that different!_** I haven't been there for you your whole life, but I _have_ watched you interact with your great great grandmother just now… and I can guarantee that everything you envy her for are qualities that you **_also_** possess! You're just as energetic, just as charismatic, just as cunning… and above all else…" Kagemaru paused to hug Karin in earnest once again, "you're just as full of love."

"…I am?"

Karin slowly put her glasses back on and opened her eyes, seeing her father smile down at her when she looked up to his face.

"Of course you are, my beloved daughter." Kagemaru shed a tear of his own. "You're filled _to the brim_ with love. Love for me; love for your mother; love for your namesake; love for your aunt Kushina and everyone else in our clan… and I'm sure, love for this Sasuke you've alluded to. That love… That's the key to mastering your _Adamantine Sealing Chains._ The reason you can't use them at will is that you're so filled up with love for _others_ you've left no room to love **_yourself._** "

"Love… for myself…"

"Yes… The _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ are powered by _unconditional love_. To use them under any circumstances, one needs to love _themselves_ unconditionally. Take Kushina: she hated her hair for the longest time and put herself down because of it. It was only when Lord Minato rescued her and complimented her hair that she started to love herself sufficiently to use them. And of course there's Jashin… He mastered his chains faster than anyone else in the clan's history, since the only person he ever truly loved **_was_** himself."

"Yeah… that must be why I could never do it… As far back as I can remember, my happiness was always _dictated by others._ Mom, then my adopted family at the Hidden Grass Village, then Orochimaru and Taka, mostly Sasuke… He saved my life once and I saw him smile at me when he did it. I've always wanted to see him smile again, and up until a few weeks ago I was convinced I had to be the one to do it. But earnestly talking with him for the first time helped me realize I didn't have to be the one to _make_ him happy; as long as he found happiness _some way_ , I was fine. But even then, I was waiting on Sasuke's happiness to find some of my own… Thanks, Dad… You've really helped me learn about myself today."

"I'm your father and I'll be fading away along with Lady Karin the First soon. What else am I supposed to do?" Kagemaru chuckled. "So who is Sasuke to you anyway, if you don't mind me asking? From your description, he sounds like your boyfriend…"

"I wanted him to be for a while, but no, he isn't." Karin smiled. "He's more like a _little_ _brother_ to me! He's a year younger than me and he depends on me for directions quite often, whether it be from my sensing or my intuition. And oh yeah… he's an Uchiha, the second son of Fugaku and Mikoto, even!"

"Is that so? Kushina was their teammate… We may have been enemies in the past, but Uchiha make for incredible allies."

Suddenly, Kagemaru noticed his hands turn transparent behind Karin's back. "Oh my, it seems I'm fading as well! Any last questions for your father?"

Karin nodded. "Yeah… Just one. Do you know if Great Great Grandma and Sasuke Sarutobi ever met? I've been curious about it ever since Sasuke told me that's who he was named after."

"They did once, actually: during Lord Hashirama and Lady Mito's wedding. It was an affair _even bigger_ than how I described Lord Kamina and Lady Yoko's theoretical one. Every important figure in the Hidden Leaf and Lady Mito's entire family was required to attend; Lord Sasuke led the Sarutobi clan and Lady Karin the First was Lady Mito's mother. She was retired due to age by then, but Lady Karin the First was still alive."

"So our namesakes **_did_** meet!" Karin shouted with excitement. "I've got to let Sasuke know when we're finished here… Goodbye, Dad! I'll make sure to love myself just as much as I love you!"

"I believe you can do it, Karin…" Kagemaru held his daughter tighter as he faded away. "I may have said you were filled to the brim with love, but that's not completely true… There's always room for a little more love in your heart! Never forget that!"

[X-X-X]

As Kagemaru's soul departed from Karin's mind and into the Pure World, Karin awoke to sense a familiar chakra approach her from the distance. One she had resented since first sensing it. The previous day, she faced the owner of this chakra with hatred. But today would be different; this time, she would be facing him armed with love instead.


	53. Chapter 52: Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi

"What … Where are we?!"

Karin turned her head in the panicked voice's direction on instinct. The voice came from Naruto, but she noticed that Naruto's eyes had returned to their usual blue and his whiskers had receded to what she saw at Shimeri Suna Estate. One thing was clear to Karin: Naruto's mind was back in his body. The moment she recognized what had happened, Karin hugged her cousin filled with ecstasy:

"Naruto… you're back! I knew it… I _knew_ Sasuke would pull through and save everyone from the Shinigami!"

Naruto's arms were limp at his sides, the blond unsure how to respond to Karin's gesture. "Shinigami… So I was stuck in the same place as Dad and Kurama's Yin Half… And Sasuke got me out? … I think I get it, but I still have no idea where we are…"

"There's no time for details." Karin's eyes narrowed as she released Naruto from her hug and turned back around, facing north. "There's an evil chakra coming toward us rapidly… Jashin's disciple and the man who killed my mother: Hidan."

"Hidan? You mean Kakuzu's partner in Akatsuki? I thought that Shikamaru buried him in his clan's forest…"

"He got out, obviously! _Infinite Tsukiyomi_ destroyed his burial site and pieced him back together in order to make him a White Zetsu alongside everything else on the planet!"

" _Infinite Tsukiyomi? …_ " Naruto scratched his head. "How do you know the specifics about it?"

"Sasuke told me everything. Called the story _Rise and Fall of the Moon Eye Plan_. Anyway, Sakura was sent away with Shikamaru's team to take care of Hidan, and they managed to defeat him again even without Sakura's help. But on their way back, the team encountered Jashin with me as his hostage. Jashin defeated all three of them, put Hidan back together himself, and took him under his wing. After that, Jashin flew me and Hidan to this island… Whirlpool Island: one-time homeland of the Uzumaki Clan _ **.**_ "

" _Our_ clan…" Naruto inferred, looking at the fallen buildings around them. "This place must be the Hidden Whirlpool Village, where Mom was born..."

"It's also where I was conceived. My own mom evacuated from here while she was pregnant with me, so this is the first time I've ever been here… To think that the last living members of the Uzumaki clan would be here at the same time… And that they'd be the name-inheritor and reincarnation of Kagura the First's children…"

"So there was another Uzumaki that was Asura's reincarnation?"

Karin nodded and smiled with her back still to Naruto. "Yeah, the one right before the First Hokage: Kamina Uzumaki. And his twin sister was the woman I'm named after: Karin Uzumaki the First. So on top of your mom and my dad being siblings, we're also related by _reincarnation…_ sort of."

"Wow… so you have a special name too." Naruto looked up in reminiscence. "Pervy Sage… Jiraiya-Sensei… I was named after the protagonist of his very first book, _Tale of a Gutsy Shinobi_. It didn't sell very well, but Mom and Dad loved it, and named me Naruto wishing that I'd be as gutsy as the shinobi in the book! I want to make them all proud; Mom, Dad, Pervy Sage… and Nagato too."

"Nagato?"

"Nagato was the inspiration for _Tale of a Gutsy Shinobi_. Pervy Sage wrote it with the image of him as the protagonist in mind. So in a way… I'm named after Nagato, even though Mom and Dad had no idea."

"Really now…" Karin turned back around and walked to Naruto's side, smirking. "I'll have to read _Tale of a Gutsy Shinobi_ myself one day. But I digress… Hidan's getting closer, and so is Sasuke, from the south side of the island. Let's give Sasuke a treat and take care of Hidan before he gets here!"

"Now you're talking my style!" Naruto grinned back as he cracked his knuckles. "I'll blow Hidan away, just like I did Kakuzu!"

Naruto wound up for a sprint in Hidan's direction, but Karin calmly grabbed the back of Naruto's jacket, stopping his dash and making him trip.

"What was that for?!" Naruto asked.

"Just rushing in guns blazing is _**not**_ the way to fight Hidan! He can't be killed in conventional ways for one thing, and he could kill you just by getting his blood on you! And unlike Sakura and Kabuto, _you_ can't cut people without making them bleed! No, I have a better way of taking Hidan down…" Karin winked, "Something more my style… something more _refined_ than simple brute force. Here's the plan…"

[X-X-X]

Farther north on the island…

 _Lord Jashin… what should I do? When we met yesterday, you filled me with a new purpose: to serve you forever as your High Priest and mating partner for your ideal vessels! But that purpose is gone now… You don't have a body anymore, and without that, your mind has no means of dominating this world, thanks to Itachi's meddlesome brother. I was prepared to serve you forever, and I would have gladly sacrificed myself for your sake… but for me, a mere FOLLOWER, to outlive his GOD?! That is the height of sacrilege! How am I supposed to face a world without you in it, My Lord?! That smile you gave me when you saved me yesterday… it lit a fire in my blackened heart, My Lord; it revealed to me my place in this world, and along with that - forgive my selfishness - a desire to see that smile upon me again… But that dream died along with your body… Leaving only despair in its place… This despair… you'd want me to share it with the world, right? Spread it like a virus into the hearts of every last man, woman, and child… Even animals won't be exempt… Yes, that is how your will shall live on, Lord Jashin! My last will and testament to you… The All-Encompassing Plague of Despair!_

As Hidan was thinking, he found himself approaching a ruined city, several fallen buildings seen in the distance.

"These ruins… such a desperate landscape! This right here… the _**whole world**_ will look like this when I'm done with it!"

Witnessing the Hidden Whirlpool Village for himself, he quickened his pace to get a closer look, but along the way he spotted a blond-haired young man with blue eyes and an orange jacket.

"I finally found you, immortal freak!" Naruto shouted. "Want me to send you to your partner?!"

Hidan laughed. "Kakuzu? What makes you think I _**cared**_ about that greedy, godless dick? I wanted to be _**Itachi**_ _ **'s**_ partner so I could introduce him to _The Way of Jashin_ , but the leader said NOOOO, the immortal has to be paired with the guy who kept killing his partners in fits of rage! The 'boss', along with Kakuzu, earned my _**ire**_ ever since! … And now I've finally found the will to overthrow him!"

At that moment, Hidan bent down and scraped his right forearm across the pavement beneath him, drawing his own blood. Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"You… you're the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki." Hidan said. "The leader will be _more than pleased_ with me after I've captured you when Itachi, Deidara, and Kakuzu all failed!"

Suddenly, Hidan made several hand seals, ending with Tiger, and released the seal, his left hand hovering over to the wound on his right arm.

" _ **Blood Style: Partial Self Siphon!**_ "

Hidan pulled all the blood out of his right arm with his left hand, solidifying into a triple-bladed scythe, his right arm becoming a shrivelled husk. The moment the weapon's formation was complete Hidan pounced at Naruto, aiming for his left arm. Naruto saw it coming and tried to dodge, but the scythe managed to just barely graze his left sleeve.

" _ **BOOM!**_ "

On cue, the blood on Naruto's left sleeve exploded, taking Naruto's left arm with it.

"Once all your limbs are destroyed, you won't be able to move! When that happens, you will be at Akatsuki's mercy!"

Next, Hidan went for the right arm, and just as before, blood narrowly hit Naruto.

" _ **BOOM!**_ "

The command once again took out Naruto's limb.

"Such beautiful destruction… I'm beginning to see what Deidara is always so excited about! But I've become even stronger than him! The _Secret Battle Arts of Jashin_ have no equal; clay is but a _**child's toy**_ compared to blood!"

Hidan followed up by going after Naruto's left leg. Yet again, it was close, but Hidan managed to land a blow.

" _ **BOOM!**_ "

Naruto's left leg exploded, making him fall to the ground face-up. Only one limb now remained: his right leg.

"Ha ha ha… Once I take you to Akatsuki, the leader will drop his guard around me, _the one who captured the Nine-Tails!_ That will be the perfect opportunity to kill him and take the organization, and all the Tailed Beasts it's collected, _**for myself!**_ "

As Hidan ranted, he pierced straight through Naruto's right leg with the tips of all three blades.

" _ **BOOM!**_ "

Naruto's right leg burst away in an explosion grander than the others, all three wounds detonating at once.

"And once I have those Tailed Beasts… I will construct an _**ultimate weapon**_ with their combined chakra, adding the Eight-Tails when it eventually revives… Then I will use this weapon to spread despair across the entire world, ravaging _every settlement on the planet!_ One by one, masses of living things will die, and the lucky survivors will _reel in despair_. The fear and paranoia will drive them to hunt me down and take the weapon for themselves, and when someone eventually succeeds, _**they**_ will become the target of everyone's despair! This will force them to relinquish the weapon and place themselves entirely in the mercy of who would replace _them…_ or use the weapon again of their own volition to defend themselves! The cycle will repeat, over and over again, until at last all living things will be united… by the chaos and despair that I spread, together in an everlasting, _**All-Encompassing Plague of Despair!**_ That is what Lord Jashin strives for, and when I finally succeed… _He will smile upon me once more!_ Just lie there like the tortured animal you are, while I go and build a raft to get us off this island… All the pain will go away soon… _for you_ , at least!"

Before Hidan could leave, however, he saw Naruto, despite all the pain he must have been feeling, calmly grin:

"Thanks for all the info."

Naruto then promptly disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

Hidan gasped in panic. " _ **THAT WAS**_ _**A SHADOW CLONE?!**_ "

 _A_ _SHADOW CLONE_ _managed to withstand getting_ _all its limbs destroyed_ _without going poof, seriously?! So resilient,_ _that clone…_ _I was convinced from the start it was the real thing. No matter. I defeated it easily, so the original shouldn't be much trouble either! If only I knew where to find him…_

Just then, Hidan noticed a trail of red hairs that led somewhere to the left of him.

"So that bitch is nearby too, eh… Aha! If I steal her body, I could use her _sensing technique_ to find the Nine-Tails! Please forgive me, Lord Jashin… I need the vessel you desired for my own purposes!"

Recalling how to take another body, Hidan collapsed the scythe into liquid and reformed the blood into a long whip, to be used as a rope in the _Jashin Succession Technique_. Soon after, he began following the red thread to his fate.

[X-X-X]

The trail of red hairs on the ground ended quicker than Hidan anticipated, leading him to a collapsed building just a couple streets away. He looked through a window and called out to Karin in as soft a voice as he could muster:

"Are you hiding in the rubble, little girl? … Don't be afraid… Lord Jashin is no longer interested in your body… It's just me, _Hidan…_ We both know how painfully _inferior_ I am to Him… And you must be furious at the mere sight of me, what with killing your mother and all… Let's let bygones be bygones, shall we? I'd feel like a sinner if I damaged your body, and you wouldn't have to be angry anymore… So how about you just give up?"

The voice that responded to him, however, was not from inside the building; it was above it.

"As if I need _your_ help overcoming Mom's death, or anyone's for that matter!" Karin replied, looking down at Hidan from the top of the collapsed building, hands on her hips, smiling calmly. "I found the answer already… so give up on making me give up!"

Hidan growled. "You… How _dare_ you look down on me… with a _smile_ of all things! Hatred… your face should be thriving with _despair and hatred!_ I killed your mother! You called me a monster for it! Why now? … Why do you not look upon me with _rage?!_ "

The Jashinist shivered with rage of his own as he readied his bloody whip for a strike. "Allow me to repair your broken face… _**by implanting my soul in your body!**_ "

Hidan followed his screams with an attempt to restrain Karin with his whip. Before it could reach the top of the building, however, Karin sighed and raised her right hand, three chains shooting out of it. The chains simultaneously made contact with Hidan's left thumb, left index finger, and back of the left hand, and soon after the whip forcibly reverted to blood and the Akatsuki ring still on Hidan's left index finger was destroyed.

Hidan gasped in shock and horror as Karin retracted her chains. Instinctively he put the whip back together, but it fell apart again as soon as he held it:

"What… what did you do?! I can't hold the blood in my hand anymore!"

Karin started giggling. "Any ninja worth their salt never reveals their secrets _until the battle's over!_ So I ain't telling you squat!"

"You _bitch!_ I can't solidify my blood… but I can still destroy you with it! Screw the Nine-Tails! Screw Akatsuki! Screw Itachi's little brother! … _**You**_ piss me off more than anyone! You are going to pay… pay with your _**life**_ for your defiance against Lord Jashin! I will destroy you _**completely!**_ "

At that moment, Hidan sent the stream of blood from his right arm toward Karin, intending to fire it in a quick sequence of bullets like he did with Hinata. Unfortunately for him, however, Karin stopped him by raising her left hand and shooting two more chains out of it, slightly grazing both of Hidan's temples at once. After that seemingly minor injury, the stream of blood fell to the ground, no longer under Hidan's control. Hidan attempted to levitate the blood again, but no matter how hard he tried the blood wouldn't respond. Karin managed to completely defeat his blood style with only two moves.

With the Jashinist frozen in terrible awe at the feat, Karin took the opportunity to tie Hidan up with chains coming from her hands and her chest, binding him head-to-toe and covering him completely with the sole exceptions of his eyes, ears, and mouth. When Karin was finished, she jumped down from the top of the building and whistled. As if on cue, the entire trail of red hair vanished in puffs of smoke, Naruto and enough Shadow Clones to equal the number of strands of red hair taking their place. With one more mass puff of smoke, all the clones disappeared, leaving only the original Naruto left: the one closest to Karin and Hidan, right behind them.

"Wow, Karin… that plan worked without a hitch from start to finish!" Naruto shouted. "That was brilliant! I almost feel obligated to write a book about you… Pervy Sage _definitely_ would have if he were still around!"

Karin blushed. "Not so fast, Naruto… I need to read _Tale of a Gutsy Shinobi_ before you even _**think**_ of starting _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi!_ "

" _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi…_ I like the sound of that! Thanks for helping out with the title!" Naruto gave a big grin as he walked to his cousin's side.

"Aren't you two forgetting something?" Hidan protested from within his confine of _Adamantine Sealing Chains_. "You said you wouldn't explain till the battle's over… Well, the battle is fucking over! Tell me how you defeated me already!"

"Alright… might as well kill some time before Sasuke gets here." Karin shrugged. "From the start I was perched on top of that building and Naruto made a bunch of Shadow Clones. He transformed himself and all but one of the clones into strands of red hair, leaving one clone to look like the original. _That clone…_ it entered Sage Mode as soon as it saw you, and then used the Transformation Jutsu to cover it up and appear normal. Sage Mode let it tank a few hits before being dispelled, which was vitally important since it had to _let itself get hit_ once per limb to give me the chance to analyze your Blood Style techniques. And thanks to that clone, I was able to discern exactly how Blood Style works… and how to stop it."

"So that whole battle with the Shadow Clone… It was _planned from the start?_ _**By you?!**_ "

Karin responded to Hidan's question with a silent nod and smirk.

"Then you followed the trail of red hair to Karin's location, oblivious to the fact that those red hairs were me and the rest of my clones the whole time!" Naruto added. "Of course, that was all according to Karin's plan too!"

"You can't be serious!" Hidan objected, incredulous.

"Of course he is!" Karin continued. "That's why I knew exactly what to do to shut you down! In order to keep liquid blood under your control, chakra seeps out from your temples to form a magnetic field around you. And to keep a Blood Weapon solid, you continuously pour chakra out of the thumb, index finger, and centre of the hand you wield the weapon in! Five specific points in your chakra pathway, five Tenketsu, are needed to manipulate blood outside of your body! Once I knew that, defeating you was simply a matter of clogging those Tenketsu up, disrupting your flow of chakra to those places… _with some chakra of my own!_ "

"It's like Karin was able to replicate the Hyuga clan's _Gentle Fist!_ " Naruto inferred.

Hidan's eyes widened. "Hyuga? I… fought a Hyuga earlier today! If the Hyuga clan could have really done this, then I wouldn't have destroyed _that witch's_ right leg!"

Naruto's expression turned from excitement to anger, and he wound up for a punch:

"Don't call Hinata a witch! I ought to give you a knuckle sandwich… it's the least I can do to pay you back for destroying Hinata's leg!"

"Calm down, Naruto!" Karin commanded as she placed a hand on his chest. "Getting us angry is exactly what Hidan wants. Don't give him the satisfaction of pissing you off; he isn't worth it. Hinata wouldn't want you wasting your energy trying to avenge her anyway. Am I wrong?"

Naruto sighed and relaxed. "You're right…"

 _If you can hear me Pervy Sage, I almost betrayed your will going after needless revenge, all because of my feelings for Hinata… Alcohol and money are no problem, but it seems I'm vulnerable to the Shinobi Vice of women… Looks like I still have a long way to go…_

"Anyway, Hinata can't see the Tenktesu." Naruto continued. "That's probably why she lost. Neji was the only Hyuga I knew that could see the Tenketsu, and he died a few months ago. But he couldn't see far enough to analyze your techniques the way Karin did. Hinata's the only Hyuga I know that can see that far away… So that means…"

Karin smiled. "Exactly what you're thinking, Naruto. Using the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique, my range is _as far as Hinata's_ , and my detail is _as precise as Neji's_ , even if for only one target at a time. When you put those facts together, despite my glasses implying _bad_ eyesight…"

"Your vision is better than _any Hyuga that's ever lived…_ " Naruto concluded, awestruck. "It's no wonder Sasuke was always one step ahead of me when we were looking for Itachi, even with all the help I had. You definitely deserve the title of _Greatest Sensor Ninja in the World_ , Karin!"

"You overestimate me _just a little._ Jugo can talk to animals whether or not said animals can speak human. That also helped Sasuke stay ahead of you… it wasn't _entirely_ my doing."

"Whatever!" Hidan interjected. "I get how you beat me, so do whatever you want to me. Lord Jashin is gone, and even if he weren't, he has no more use for _a broken tool_ like me… If he was here, he'd have disowned me as a follower and crushed my hopes himself already… Unlike me, a _mere follower_ , Lord Jashin is a _**god**_ in every sense of the word, lacking in all morals that hold humanity back from its true potential as _**harbingers of destruction!**_ The ability to destroy anything he wants to without batting an eyelash… Such divine will is worth _eternal devotion and worship_ , even if he were to turn his power against me… He sucked all the blood out of me to murder the Eight-Tails after all, and in that moment, I couldn't have been _**prouder**_ of myself!"

At Hidan's last remark, anger started welling up inside Naruto once more:

"You… you're beyond twisted, you know that?! No one ever truly looks at another like a tool! I know someone that was just like you… Haku! He loved Zabuza with all his heart, but he believed that Zabuza only thought of him as a tool, and dedicated his life to being just that, sacrificing himself to protect Zabuza whenever he could… But Haku was wrong. Zabuza truly loved Haku deep down just as much as Haku loved Zabuza, but he didn't want to admit it to himself… I think your situation is like Haku's. It's clear that you really love Jashin, so Jashin probably loves you too; he wouldn't _dare_ sacrifice you without hesitation!"

"Shut up, Naruto!"

Karin promptly elbowed her cousin in the gut, making him fall to the pavement.

Naruto clutched his abdomen in pain. "What was that for, Karin?!"

"You're wrong. That's all there is to it; Jashin is every bit as evil as Hidan thinks he is. I have no idea if he started out that way, or if he'll ever change for the better, but right now Hidan has the right of it. I ought to know… I've seen more of Jashin's atrocities than anyone else alive. And on top of that … I know _exactly_ how it feels being in Hidan's current position. Having no love for himself, his purpose being completely dependent on someone else… Not long ago, I was _just like him._ "

"You… just like Hidan?!"

Karin raised her hands to her chest. "Yeah… his feelings for Jashin are an awful lot like how I used to feel for Sasuke. My only purpose in life for the last four years was to see Sasuke smile again. At first I thought that I had to be the one to do it, but being on this journey with him helped me realize that as long as Sasuke was happy, I didn't have to be the one to make it happen. Regardless, my top priority was to see Sasuke smile again by any means necessary, and my own happiness was still tied to Sasuke's. That held me back from using my chains. I could only use them when Sasuke was in danger because the chains are powered by love; to use them in any situation, you have to love _yourself,_ something I didn't know how to do until today. But speaking with Dad and Great Great Grandma, and with you and Kurama as well… I finally learned how."

"How did you do it?" Naruto asked, standing up again. "I kinda had a similar problem for a while…"

Karin gazed into the morning sky and gave a relaxed smile. "It's simple really… I noticed how many people love me already! Sasuke, Suigetsu, Jugo, Butsuma, Sakura, Hinata, Temari, Kabuto, Killer B, my parents, my namesake, and you and Kurama too… You've all risked so much for my sake. Obviously, there's something in me that's worth protecting… So I'm worth the effort to protect _myself_ too. I love the me that everyone's loved all along!"

"Yeah… just the answer I expected from the _Gutsy Kunoichi._ " Naruto said with a smile of his own.

Karin shifted her focus back to her mother's chained, defeated murderer. "I almost _pity_ you, Hidan… I was able to find love for myself thanks to everyone who's been there for me, but you… You don't have anyone who's willing to show the same kind of affection for you anymore. Jashin never cared about you, and everyone from your generation of Akatsuki is dead. But that can _change._ You can still be saved, if you let go of _The Way of Jashin_ and turn yourself in to the Hidden Hot Water Village. Seek a fair trial for your crimes back home… I'm sure someone misses you. Sasuke, Kabuto, Fuzai, and Yoshitsune were able to find redemption and a home where they'd be loved despite everything they've done. The same can happen to you, if you choose not to shoulder everything yourself and let people help you out."

"Karin's right!" Naruto added. "The same thing happened to Neji, Gaara, Nagato, and Obito! You might have killed Asuma-Sensei and Karin's mom, but it's not too late… It's never too late!"

At that remark, Hidan spat to the ground:

"Redemption… Seriously?! As if I have anything to _regret_ other than my own fucking _incompetence!_ As far back as I can remember, even before reading _The Way of Jashin_ , I've always believed that ninja were born for the sole purpose of robbing from and destroying other ninja! That was how my village _**prospered**_ during the First Ninja World War; _The Way of Jashin_ was _**standard literature**_ for ninja in the Hidden Hot Water back then. People learned the _Secret Battle Arts of Jashin_ , Blood Style… and we were _**invincible!**_ Sure, countless civilians in the country died because of the Five Great Nations' struggle to find the Holy Grail of Jashin for themselves, but the village was never successfully invaded by anyone! Not the Hidden Leaf, not the Hidden Mist, not the Hidden Cloud! It took a joint effort between the Second Hokage and Second Raikage to even put a _dent_ in our indomitable fortress of blood! And even that alliance failed, thanks to some info we got from the Gold and Silver Brothers, who defected from the Hidden Cloud to join _**our village**_ instead! To this day I _**still**_ fail to understand why the war ended with the Second Hokage's death! It was my own grandfather, the village's Head Ninja at the time, who killed the First Hokage to start the First Ninja World War to begin with… and then killed the Second to end it… calling an armistice after _**WINNING THE BATTLE!**_ "

Karin and Naruto were both horrified at the revelation. "Your grandfather _**killed the first two Hokage?!**_ " they shouted in unison.

"Damn right he did! Anyone who calls the First Hokage the 'God of Shinobi' is committing _blasphemy_ , since my grandfather was his _**superior**_ in battle! And when the Second Hokage looked like he could finally get a chance to avenge his older brother, he lost to my grandfather as well! When I first heard of that from my father, I was unsure how such feats were possible… but when I saw Lord Jashin use Blood Style, I figured it out! My grandfather mastered Blood Style! He used it to murder the First Hokage, proving the might of Blood Style to the world, and it made every country in the world want a taste of that power! My grandfather succeeded where Kakuzu failed! I would have considered him the True God of Shinobi… but he got soft and left the Path! He called an armistice after winning the war… then he called the Purge on his own cult! My grandfather was a _**False Prophet!**_ "

"I think I get it…" Naruto crossed his arms and nodded during the rant. "Your grandfather… he regretted starting the First Ninja World War. He noticed how many lives he took, that being the strongest village in the world came at a cost too much to be worth it. Fighting the Second Hokage must have knocked him to his senses, seeing how much hatred and despair he was spreading throughout the world. So he did everything he could to stop the fighting and make sure the terrible power of Blood Style was never used again, by himself or anyone else…"

"That's why he called the Purge, and then asked the Hot Water Daimyo to outlaw Jashinism…" Karin added. "As long as a single user of Blood Style existed, another Ninja World War could start up again. It takes the assassination of just one beloved political figure to ignite chaos…"

"So my grandfather was a _quitter?_ " Hidan inferred. "He couldn't handle what it took to be a harbinger of destruction, so he just _**gave up?!**_ How pathetic… I'm ashamed to be related to him! I only lacked the _skill_ to be Lord Jashin's follower… He lacked the _drive!_ That's a _**far**_ greater sin!"

"I stand corrected… it seems you've found a way to love yourself after all, however twisted it might be." Karin remarked. "So before I shut you up for good, tell me just one thing. How did you manage to kill Mom? After fighting you today… I don't see how it was possible. Even with Blood Style, you had no chance against me. You didn't know you had Blood Style when you fought Mom, but even still you defeated her… How did you do it?!"

Hidan started chuckling. "Those chains… Kagura _couldn't use them._ When she arrived at the village to announce Lord Jashin's return intent on _warning_ us… Ha ha ha… I overheard her, since I, the son of the Head Ninja, was in the room when it happened! I was always afraid of violating the laws my grandfather put forth, that my father was intent on upholding… until then. I thought Lord Jashin's return was a calling… a calling to surpass the law and become a _**Harbinger of Destruction**_ independent of all but My Lord! When I finally acquired Lord Jashin's Curse and returned home, that damned Kagura spotted me. She cornered me and demanded to know what I was doing… I told her it was _her own warning_ that inspired me to become a Jashinist! The guilt on her face was _**priceless!**_ She must have _hated_ herself to the point those chains couldn't work anymore, and I took advantage of that vulnerability to offer her up to Lord Jashin as my first _Ceremonial Killing!_ "

"… I thought so." Karin crossed her arms and looked away. "There's no way someone as weak as you could have beaten Mom fair and square."

"So what are you going to do now, Karin?" Naruto asked.

"I'm going to… wrap him up in so many chains that he's bound to sink, but still leave his mouth and ears exposed. Then I'm going to kick him into the bottom of the ocean… He'll drown over and over again until the time limit on his _Ceremonial Killing_ expires and he dies. Now stand back, Naruto; I don't want you caught in this."

" _ **Not so fast!**_ " someone shouted from the south.

Karin and Naruto turned around simultaneously to find Sasuke close behind them.

"Sasuke?!" the two Uzumaki shouted in unison.

Hidan's eyes narrowed. "You again…"

"We can't send Hidan to his demise yet… we still _need him._ " Sasuke declared as he ran toward them, making Karin and Naruto double over in shock. "Because… he knows where the Holy Grail of Jashin is… and that's where Jashin's soul escaped to. Hidan's the key to stopping Jashin once and for all!"


	54. Chapter 53: The Dusk of Sunrise

"What do you mean, ' _stop Jashin once and for all_ ', Sasuke?!" Naruto shouted.

"Yeah… weren't you supposed to do that in the Shinigami's dimension before releasing everyone?!" Karin added.

"I tried to do that, but the Shinigami stopped me from destroying Jashin's soul completely."

Karin's and Naruto's jaws dropped at Sasuke's revelation.

"When I released everyone from the Shinigami, Jashin was released too. He bragged about there being two places he could escape to, and I narrowed it down to either the _Holy Grail_ , which contains the blood from Jashin's original body, or the one person still alive who's consumed it… Hidan. And judging from what just transpired here…" Sasuke shifted his attention to the Jashinist, "it's clear that Jashin hasn't gone to the latter."

Once Sasuke was finished his explanation he stepped forward in between Karin and Naruto. It was at that moment that Naruto realized the height difference between himself and Sasuke:

"Wha… why are you so much taller now?!"

"Karin and I _revived the dead_ , idiot. That's why we've aged so drastically since Kurotsuchi's party. I'm sure you're familiar with the method; you witnessed it twice, after all."

"No way…" Naruto gasped in awe as he made the connection. " _Samsara of Heavenly Life…_ you two used the jutsu Nagato and Obito did… and survived?!"

"Being honest with you… I was intending on using it alone and dying." Sasuke looked down in shame. He quickly snapped his gaze back up, however, and pet Karin on the top of her head. "But Karin saved me from having to sacrifice myself like that, combining her chakra with mine and taking the brunt of the jutsu's cost. So instead of using the jutsu alone and dying…"

Karin bashfully smiled. "We used the jutsu _together_ and lived."

"Karin…" Sasuke turned his focus her way and gently turned his hand to tilt Karin's head toward him, looking straight into her eyes. "Between that and what you've done today, using your chains without me and defeating Hidan without bringing harm to yourself or Naruto in the process, you've proven yourself to be one of the most brilliant kunoichi I've ever seen. I'm… so _proud_ of you, Karin."

As Sasuke finished, he couldn't help but smile at her. Karin did not miss this, as in response she hugged Sasuke as tightly as she could and smiled in return:

"Your smile… it's come back! And it's not just the expression… your chakra! Sasuke, your chakra's the warmest and brightest it's ever been as far back as I've known you! You're happy… truly happy!"

Sasuke moved his hand from Karin's head to her back to reciprocate the embrace. "Yes… I haven't felt like this in a very long time. And I don't think I would have been able to recover this part of myself if it weren't for you, Karin. Thank you…"

He allowed himself to relax in Karin's arms, if only for a brief second before being interrupted by a prisoner who could only watch helplessly as Sasuke and Karin expressed their love for each other:

"Aren't you forgetting somebody?!"

"Get used to it, buddy." Naruto shrugged, his arms crossed. "When Sasuke really starts to connect with a girl he likes, he and her end up ignoring everyone else around them… It's happened to me more times than I'd like to remember! … Wait a sec…" Naruto's eyes narrowed as he turned to Sasuke and Karin, the pair still hugging. "Doesn't this count as cheating on Sakura-chan?! What the hell are you thinking, Sasuke?!"

"I'm thinking that your understanding of love is just as poor as it was back at Shimeri Suna Estate despite all my help, idiot." Sasuke replied as he nonetheless broke away from Karin's hold to look in Naruto's direction. "I confessed my love to, told the truth about my brother to, and kissed Sakura earlier today! Our relationship had _just_ gotten back to something fairly stable. You really think I'd risk severing that bond _**right after restoring it?!**_ "

Naruto and Karin were rendered silent; Naruto raised an eyebrow in contemplation and Karin rolled her eyes.

Sasuke looked straight at Hidan to avert his eyes from the others, embarrassed. "Never mind… I know exactly how you two will answer that. Anyway, I might love Karin, but in a different way than I love Sakura… I wouldn't _dare_ cheat on either of them, let alone try to replace one with the other… not anymore, at least."

"Whatever!" Hidan shouted. "What matters is that Lord Jashin lives! I may still be of use to him yet!"

Sasuke smirked. "You're right about that. But as Jashin's follower, you've drank from the Holy Grail… so you know where it is. That means you have two choices: you could take the information with you to the grave, serving your 'god' to the very end… or you could tell us where the Grail is, and in exchange we'll free you, leaving you with the knowledge that you doomed your god in an act of self-serving treason, that knowledge haunting you for the rest of your days. The choice is yours."

"Seriously?! As if I even need to _think_ about it! I will serve My Lord in hell!"

"So what do we do now? Hidan said no…" Naruto asked.

Sasuke sighed as he held his head in his hand. "It's a shame you won't help us willingly, Hidan… Perhaps meeting a certain someone will change your mind… You deserve to meet him before you effectively die regardless."

"Who?" Karin and Naruto wondered in unison.

Sasuke suddenly leaped back about ten feet and enveloped himself in a deep purple chakra, taking the form of a cloth-wrapped four-armed man with no legs. Karin recognized it as similar to the Susano'o Sasuke briefly used at the Five Kage Summit before he went blind, but with two features that were not there before: a sword with a gourd for a hilt held in the front left hand, and a shield held in the front right. Naruto recognized the weapons on sight… but as ones Itachi wielded: the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror. It was then that Naruto knew who Sasuke was planning on having Hidan meet:

"I get it… Itachi gave those to you when we were in the Shinigami… You're releasing _Nagato_ now, aren't you?!"

The exclamation made Karin jump with anticipation, but it confused Hidan:

"Who… Who the _fuck_ is Nagato?! You've all talked about him as if he's some deceased _friend_ of yours…"

Sasuke pointed the Totsuka Blade at the ground in front of him, right next to Karin. "Nagato was, just like Jashin, a man who considered himself a god, and went to extremes in pursuit of an ideal world free of what he saw as 'sin'. Where Nagato and Jashin _differ_ is that when Nagato was faced with all his faults and was defeated, he saw the error of his ways, embraced his own humanity, and even gave his life to make amends for everything wrong he had done. Jashin, however, clung to his delusions of godhood even after being defeated completely and utterly, so totally convinced of his own divinity that he refused to retract that image of himself even after losing all the power he'd spent over a century gathering. Hidan, Nagato is the true identity of _your leader_ , _**Pain!**_ "

Without another word, a body came spiraling out of the Totsuka Blade's gourd, forming a human shape at the spot Sasuke pointed to. The figure was a man with straight red hair and very pale skin wearing a red cloak and nothing on his feet, with cracks on his face and Rinnegan in both eyes. The man seemed to be in a daze, and almost tripped over himself trying to take a step forward. Karin and Naruto noticed this, caught him on both sides, and provided support to the man that hadn't walked since the Third Ninja World War.

"What's… what's going on?" Nagato asked, still seemingly half-asleep. "Last thing I remember, I was in an orgy with Yahiko and Konan… and Ameko joined in eventually… Then Itachi followed suit… and then _Hanzo_ added on to the steaming pile, which really shocked me! Jiraiya-Sensei watched the whole thing with an amused grin plastered on his face, for research I bet… At least until Mother and Father arrived and started making out right in front of him… The whole experience was so bizarre I couldn't tell whether it was an illusion or reality… And now I see Hidan tied up in chains? I had no idea he was into bondage…"

"Snap out of it, Nagato!" Naruto yelled as he punched Nagato's forehead with his free hand. "You're free from the Totsuka Blade!"

 _That's right… Those trapped in the Totsuka Blade experience drunken dreams for all eternity… It's like Infinite Tsukiyomi… but more perverse._ Sasuke thought.

With Naruto's blow, Nagato was wide awake. He looked to his left to find Naruto holding him up, and to his right, he found someone else, triggering a distant memory:

"… Mother…"

Karin tilted her head in confusion and her eyes widened.

"You… you look like my mother, and you have similar chakra on top of that… who are you?" Nagato asked.

"My name is Karin. We actually met before, once… I didn't see your real face though; you were speaking through Yahiko's corpse. It was in between Itachi's death and when you attacked the Hidden Leaf."

Karin's explanation helped Nagato jog his memory, and he gasped in recognition:

"I remember now… Yes, you're Sasuke's teammate and sensor… It was strange even back then, you having chakra like Mother's… Where is the rest of your team? Someone else also had peculiar chakra…"

"Do you mean _my_ chakra, perhaps?" Sasuke asked from behind them, cancelling his Susano'o and walking forward to the group, placing himself between Nagato and Hidan. "My chakra and the chakra coming from your Rinnegan ought to seem similar, after all…"

"No, not you, Sasuke. Even if what you say is true, I had no way of confirming it. Before I died, there was never a time when I was in range to someone else who had my Rinnegan in their eyes. And while I knew Madara acquired the Rinnegan from my corpse before the Fourth Ninja World War, we were deployed in different areas. No, the other one I was curious about was the larger man. The one with orange hair, just like Yahiko's. The man's chakra was like Yahiko's as well…"

Karin gasped. "Really?! Jugo and Yahiko had similar chakra?!" she asked. Nagato calmly nodded.

"So the similar hair wasn't a coincidence." Sasuke said. "Yahiko was a member of Jugo's clan, like Warushizen was. He was just among the ninety percent who don't inherit the Kekkei Genkai."

"That would explain it." Nagato replied. "So why are Karin's and Mother's chakra alike? Are _we_ clan mates too?"

Karin nodded with glee.

"You've got to be shitting me!" Hidan shouted. "My boss… and my first sacrifice… _**were from the same clan?!**_ "

"The relation runs deeper than that, Hidan. Nagato's mother and Karin's maternal grandmother were _twin sisters._ They're both members of the Uzumaki clan's Kagura Dynasty."

Hidan's eyes widened with shock at Sasuke's revelation, while Karin gasped.

"Wait, so if Nagato's mom and Karin's grandma were twin sisters, then…" Naruto interjected, "Karin is to Nagato what Hinata's children would be to Neji?"

"Yes, exactly." Sasuke affirmed. "Extending the allegory would give you and Hinata being Kagemaru and Kagura the Second, respectively. Assuming you and Hinata have kids, of course."

Hidan's eyes widened. "Did you just say … Kagura _**the Second?!**_ "

"Yeah… Were you not aware that Mom was named after the creator and progenitor of my sensing technique, _Mind's Eye of the Kagura?_ " Karin asked as she stuck her tongue out. "And I was named after her daughter… my great great grandma! Nagato's a member of the _Fifth Generation of the Kagura Dynasty_ , and I'm the sole member of the _Sixth Generation!_ "

"Progenitor… So my own sensing technique was a Kekkei Genkai? … I suppose that makes sense, considering that…"

"Considering what, Nagato?" Naruto asked.

"That doesn't matter right now!" Hidan said. "What matters is why you summoned my boss right in front of me… Sasuke Uchiha!"

"Ah, yes… that has a lot to do with Nagato's heritage. I wanted both you and Nagato to hear what I have to say about Nagato's mother, Fuso Uzumaki. Fuso was the woman responsible for causing the _Purge of Jashinism_ after the First Ninja World War. She led a team from the Hidden Whirlpool Village to hunt down all the sources of Jashinism's characteristic _Curse Energy_ in its home country, the Land of Hot Water. She wrapped all the Jashinists in _Adamanting Sealing Chains_ \- not unlike what Karin just did to _you_ , Hidan - and threw them all to the bottom of the ocean. After that, she moved to the Land of Rain, the second most likely place Jashinists would show up after the fact, just in case… and eventually Nagato was born her son."

"How… how did you find all that out?" Nagato asked in confusion. "I had no idea Mother was involved in something so gruesome… I always thought she was just a civilian nurse…"

"Orochimaru told me. He knew because he witnessed Jashin steal Kagemaru's body and confronted him over it, and Jashin knew because of Kagemaru's memories. Orochimaru then proceeded-"

"Who cares about that old snake?!" Hidan interrupted. "Fuso Uzumaki acting out the Purge is _**old news**_ to me! I only joined Akatsuki to convert Itachi to Jashinism! If I'd known the boss was that _**she-devil**_ 's son I wouldn't have even considered it! Not that Fuso's the root cause of the Purge anyway… Her _**client**_ is the truly sinful one here; Fuso just did as she was told, like the tool she was meant to be!"

Sasuke shook his head in disappointment. "The client… I don't know who that is, unfortunately."

" _ **We**_ do, though!" Karin interjected. "The one who outlawed Jashinism from that point on was the Hot Water Daimyo, but the one who ordered a mass hit on all Jashinists at the time was the Head Ninja of the Hidden Hot Water Village during the First Ninja World War: Hidan's grandfather, the killer of the first two Hokage and a Jashinist himself!"

Sasuke doubled back in bewilderment and Nagato gasped in reaction to the news.

"Isn't it ironic, _hellspawn?_ " Hidan grinned with ecstasy as he saw the implication hit Nagato hard. "You wound up becoming my boss… but _my grandpa_ was _**your mom**_ **'s** boss! Your mother was nothing more than a _puppet_ dancing to the tune of my grandfather's distorted music!"

"Distorted music?" Nagato asked, angered by Hidan insulting his mother but still calm enough to converse with his one-time subordinate rationally; he was relaxed by the feeling of Naruto and Karin's support keeping him up. "Distorted in what way? Are you ashamed that your grandfather murdered the First Hokage and effectively started the First Ninja World War? Or that he was the mastermind behind the Purge of your religion? I'd understand in either case. I killed Jiraiya-Sensei, earning me no small amount of hatred from another of his students…" he said as he looked at Naruto, smiling, before returning his focus to Hidan, "… and I also killed Hanzo and everyone who sided with him in the Land of Rain, effectively _purging_ the country from his influence as my first act of ' _divine_ ' will. So I understand the pain you must be feeling. You have my sympathies, however much they're worth to you."

Suddenly, Hidan spat squarely in Nagato's left eye, making him wince in pain momentarily before his reanimated body regenerated from the damage.

"Your sympathies are worth _**nothing**_ to me, ' _leader_ '! Killing the First Hokage and starting a world war? That's something I _**admire.**_ As for the _Purge?_ That _confused_ me more than it _embittered_ me… The _motive_ is the thing I truly despise about it! If he tried to remove all Jashinists so that he'd leave himself as the only one with Lord Jashin's power, embracing the image he cultivated for himself as the _Ninja World's Greatest Monster_ when he murdered the First Hokage, then I'd understand… I'd even _forgive_ him for his arrogance and betrayal! But he ordered _himself_ purged as well, so that was impossible. The _**real**_ reason he did it? From what I gather from the Nine-Tails and Kagura's daughter, it was for something far, _far_ worse than simple power… Grandfather committed the Purge for the sake of _**PEACE!**_ He violated the _Ninth Commandment of Jashin_ , among the most severe of the Ten Commandments, and the only one aside from the First Commandment with an explicit punishment for disobeying!"

Nagato was at a complete loss as to how wildly his ideals and Hidan's differed. "How… How can you see acting for the sake of _peace_ as a _terrible sin?!_ "

"Those _Ten Commandments of Jashin_ again… You only mentioned the Second, Fourth, Sixth, and Tenth Commandments yesterday." Karin recalled. "What are the First and Ninth, Hidan?"

"The First Commandment is as follows! ' _At least once every year, thou shalt perform Jashin's Ceremonial Killing. Failure to adhere to this Commandment will result in the loss of Lord Jashin's Gift of Immortality'._ "

Hidan took a deep breath before continuing. "And the Ninth is thus: ' _Thou shalt always act for the sake of escalating conflict, never for ending it. Leaving survivors to embrace the despair of thy massacres and come after thou in revenge is encouraged. Failure to adhere to this Commandment will earn everlasting hatred from Lord Jashin that will never be forgiven, regardless of circumstances'._ "

"If that's so…" Karin pointed at Hidan with her free hand, "… then why didn't you tell Jashin about your grandpa?! Doesn't he have the right to know who's violated the Commandments in his absence?! Especially that one!"

"That… Please forgive me, Lord Jashin!" Hidan screamed. "I was afraid… afraid that My Lord would follow through on the Seventh Commandment if he ever found out! The Seventh Commandment of Jashin is this: ' _Children exist only to be extensions of their parents' will. To this end, thou shalt treat a child how thou would treat their parents on principle alone'._ So you understand my dilemma… if Lord Jashin was made aware of my grandfather's sins, Lord Jashin would treat me as unworthy of following him for just being his descendant! I may have rejected Grandfather's will, but I would receive My Lord's everlasting hatred all the same! Just like… I have everlasting hatred of _**you**_ , ' _boss_ ', just for being Fuso's son!"

"I… I must apologize, then." Nagato spoke up, catching Hidan's attention. "It's clear now your values are incomparable to mine… I am the polar opposite of your god in every way. Because of that… you've been unknowingly violating the _Ninth Commandment of Jashin_ ever since you became my subordinate."

Hidan gritted his teeth in apprehension. "What the fuck… does that mean?"

"Every member of Akatsuki, while under my management, had a different reason for co-operating with me. For you, it was _religion_ ; you joined Akatsuki to spread your beliefs to Itachi. For your partner Kakuzu, it was _money;_ he was coerced to join because of the massive bounties on several Jinchuriki's heads. I wanted to bring people of various backgrounds and belief systems together, working toward a common goal, whatever that goal might have been. Even when I was at my darkest and most cynical, I never let go of my own dream, my own reason for fighting as part of Akatsuki… Akatsuki existed for the sake of _peace_ , a lasting peace for all nations to enjoy together. That is the ideal world I dreamed of, and what _you_ were fighting for all this time. I hope you can find peace with your god despite what I put you through."

Everyone remained quiet for a few seconds following Nagato's apology. It was Sasuke who eventually broke the silence:

"Are you going to reconsider your answer now, Hidan? Do you still wish to serve your Lord in hell, despite now knowing you've been a soldier of peace all along, and that you'll have committed an irredeemable sin in his eyes either way?"

"Yeah… I've reconsidered."

Sasuke and the Uzumaki were befuddled by the decision as a faint smile made its way on to Hidan's face.

"I understand now that I can no longer serve My Lord…"

The faint smile then suddenly erupted into a furiously wicked grin as Hidan concluded his sentence:

"… but I still pledge my eternal devotion to Lord Jashin! I cannot _**serve**_ him, but I will not _**betray**_ him either!"

Hidan promptly bit into his own tongue, drawing as much blood from himself as he possibly could from his position.

"Oh no… Hidan's going to destroy his own throat!" Karin warned in panic, getting behind Nagato on reflex. "He won't be able to speak ever again!"

"That was how Kisame died!" Naruto added.

"Never mind that, get behind me!" Nagato shouted. "I'll absorb or repel whatever he sends our way!"

Naruto silently nodded and got behind Nagato.

" _ **VWOOM!**_ "

Hidan's scream caused the blood within and around his mouth to explode, obliterating the bottom half of his head and his neck along with the chains that bound him, scattering them every which way. Nagato raised his hands and blocked the ones that came toward him with Almighty Push. To Nagato's surprise, Sasuke did the same.

At that moment, Nagato got a good look at Sasuke for the first time since his release from the Totsuka Blade; he now had a Rinnegan in his left eye. Nagato could tell it was not his Rinnegan, however, since it had six Sharingan-like tomoe on the inner ripples of the eye. It occurred to Nagato that perhaps Sasuke had awakened his own Rinnegan since his sealing. But that brought about far more questions than answers.

When the shrapnel stopped, Hidan's headless body fell to the ground while the top half of Hidan's head shot to the sky due to the explosion.

"So what happens next, Sasuke?!" Naruto wondered in exasperation. "We just lost our key to the Holy Grail's location!"

"No we didn't." Nagato objected, his eyes widening in horror. "Naruto, remember our battles. The Rinnegan has an ability to read an enemy's mind even if they can't speak… Though I'll feel terrible doing it to a subordinate of mine, if it means helping you, Naruto, then…"

"Don't bother." Sasuke sighed as Hidan's severed head fell into his arm. "I've got that covered."

Without another word, Sasuke pulled out what seemed to be a black wisp with a white skeletal pattern in the shape of Hidan from out of his head. At least in Nagato's eyes; Naruto and Karin just saw Sasuke let go of Hidan's upper head in a dramatic fashion.

Nagato nodded in comprehension. "You used the Human Path to remove Hidan's mind from his body and read the location of the Holy Grail from his memories. But Hidan's soul hasn't gone to the Pure World yet… it's just standing next to you."

Karin suddenly gasped. "So _**that's**_ what Jashin meant! When he was telling Hidan about how to steal bodies, he warned Hidan that having his mind severed from his body would make him a ghost… His _disembodied spirit_ will remain in this world until the time limit for _Jashin's Ceremonial Killing_ expires!"

"But then… you weren't really giving Hidan a choice at all, Sasuke!" Naruto inferred. "You were going to get the information out of him no matter what he did!"

"I still gave Hidan a choice, Naruto… I gave Hidan the chance to offer his info willingly and even helped him learn the full truth about himself to make sure he made an _informed_ decision rather than a _reckless_ one. Sure, the Holy Grail's location was going to come out even if he refused, but believe me when I say that I wasn't going to use the Human Path on him if he accepted. I wanted Hidan to save himself just as much as you did."

"He's telling the truth, Naruto." Karin added. "And besides, after we defeated him and after Sasuke and Nagato explained the truth to him, he still insisted on being Jashin's follower. He chose to be an enemy to the bitter end. All we could do for him at that point was accept him _as_ an enemy… and cut him down without remorse. We'd be _insulting_ Hidan if we held back against him just because we felt sorry for him."

"I think… I get it…" Naruto closed his eyes in contemplation. "Grandpa A… He talked about how mercy isn't necessarily friendship. At the time, I couldn't even fathom agreeing with him, but in this case, where our values are so fundamentally different… I suppose the only way for us to form a genuine bond would be through our fists… A bond with an enemy is still a bond, after all… It's decided, Karin!"

"What is?"

"The name of the _**villain**_ in _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi!_ It's going to be Hidan! That will be our way of remembering Hidan as an enemy, immortalized as your _antagonist_ in literature! … If Shikamaru and the Land of Hot Water are okay with it, anyway…"

" _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi?_ " Nagato raised an eyebrow as he looked back into Naruto's eyes, curious. "Are you… going to write a sequel to Jiraiya-Sensei's masterpiece, Naruto? With Karin's experiences as the inspiration?"

Naruto made a big grin. "Yeah! If Pervy Sage was the first volume, you were the second, and I am the third, then Karin here's the fourth!"

"You know… I think that fourth volume needs _two_ main characters rather than one." Karin said. "Sasuke… My story is just as much about him as it is about me. Isn't that right, Sasuke?"

"If we're going to be making ourselves out as fictional heroes, then I might as well make a statement using one. Why I still haven't freed Nagato from his reanimated shell with the Human Path." Sasuke remarked as he walked to face Nagato, Naruto's and Karin's eyes going wide with shock.

"Hold on!" Karin objected. "Can't we just use _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ again?! We brought Butsuma back, so we can bring Nagato back too!"

Sasuke shook his head with a frown. "No… that isn't an option anymore. Jashin destroyed my soul's left arm inside the Shinigami. So it's impossible for me to make hand seals with my own body even _if_ my left arm gets replaced."

"Oh…" Karin looked away, biting her lip in apprehension.

"Anyway, Nagato," Sasuke continued, "I got some memories from Kabuto and Kurama. That's how I learned the Human Path. But something you told Naruto stood out. You claimed that the second volume, _your life_ , was an unsatisfactory tale not worth living up to Jiraiya's legacy. I think I know why that is."

"And why _is_ that, Sasuke?"

"Simply put… your story's still _missing one chapter:_ the chapter where all the loose ends are tied up and the whole truth reveals itself. A story can't have a respectable ending if there are mysteries that have yet to be solved, and there are _plenty_ of unanswered questions regarding your life, from your end as well as mine. As a Seeker of the Truth, I can't let that injustice slide. So I promise you, Nagato… before you pass on, we will uncover the full truth about you!"


	55. Chapter 54: Nagato's Missing Chapter

"Reveal all the truths about my life?" Nagato asked. "Where would you like to start from?"

"A starting point, hn…" Sasuke closed his eyes, contemplating until he eventually opened them, having determined an answer. "I suppose we should start with the biggest mystery surrounding you. Nagato, do you have any idea how you acquired the Rinnegan?"

"How I got the Rinnegan? … I have no idea."

The answer confused Sasuke. He looked just behind Nagato to see that Karin and Naruto were just as confused. "No idea?"

"Ameko was under the impression you were born with it!" Karin recalled. "You're saying you _disagree_ with her?"

"Yes… At the very beginning of my memory, I couldn't see. Everything was black to me, until one day I happened to see my parents, who were walking me back home. I looked in a mirror for the first time when I did, and I saw that I had the Rinnegan."

"So you were born _**blind?!**_ " Naruto replied in bewilderment. Sasuke and Karin looked at Nagato with sympathy, knowing first-hand the difficulties of living without sight.

At that moment, Karin had an epiphany. "I get it… Your _Mind's Eye of the Kagura;_ you developed it to compensate for your blindness! That's why you weren't shocked when we said it was a Kekkei Genkai; it came to you without needing anyone to teach it!"

Nagato smiled and nodded. "At any rate, I'm sorry I can't be of any more help. If Madara is still alive, he might know…"

"You said it again… Madara." Sasuke remarked. "I guess it's about time we correct him. What do you say, Karin? Naruto?"

"I was wondering when we were going to do that!" Naruto said.

"Are you insinuating that the Madara I know… isn't really Madara?" Nagato asked. He looked to his sides to find Karin and Naruto back under his arms, nodding in confirmation.

"Who you knew as Madara Uchiha was an impostor." Sasuke stated, startling Nagato. "In truth, the Masked Man's name was _Obito_ Uchiha, student of the Fourth Hokage and the man who gave Kakashi his Sharingan."

"How is that possible?"

"It's a very long story…"

After saying this, Sasuke approached Nagato as he methodically brought his hand up to his face, pointing to his own right eye and beginning to smirk:

"Thankfully, I told that story in its every detail to Karin a few days ago, so I can simply share my memory of telling it."

" _Rise and Fall of the Moon Eye Plan_ , you mean." Karin inferred.

"Yes… Everything Nagato needs to know about Obito, about Madara, and about how they relate to his Rinnegan is in that story. If you don't mind, Nagato… look into my eyes."

Without any delay, Nagato did as Sasuke instructed. However, the surplus of information took its toll on Nagato and he collapsed despite Naruto and Karin's support, falling down on his back. Karin and Naruto helped him sit up, but Nagato chose to remain seated for the time being and motioned for them to let go. They complied and sat next to him on either side. Sasuke sat down himself so he could face all three of them.

After remaining quiet for a minute or so to absorb all the information Sasuke projected into his mind, Nagato spoke up:

"I see… Madara, the _real_ Madara, awakened the Rinnegan and somehow gave me his eyes before my parents' deaths. You want to learn precisely how he did it. And Obito must have kept up the facade of being Madara partially to keep _me_ in line… He had to keep me from learning that I was supposed to revive the dead as part of his plan, and then give my eyes back to Madara whether I survived reviving him or not. That also explains why he avoided me during the war; if I sensed _Madara's eye in Obito's body_ , I would have found out that Tobi _was not Madara_ , something he wanted to avoid letting loose at all costs. But despite all that, Obito was a lot like me… Rin's death drove Obito to despair, as Yahiko's death drove _me_ to despair… Yahiko and Rin also both impaled themselves…"

"The similarities don't end there." Sasuke interrupted, alerting everyone. "While Yahiko and Rin may have ultimately taken their own lives, I wouldn't call _either_ case a suicide. In reality, both of their deaths were planned _roughly a year in advance_ by a malicious third party, making them victims of _murder._ "

"Both of them?!" Naruto and Karin shouted in unison.

"Yes… I figured it out when I was talking with Orochimaru. Yahiko's death and Rin's death were being plotted as soon as White Zetsu retrieved Obito from the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, and the first step to both murders happened at the same time, at the same place: _the destruction of the Hidden Whirlpool Village._ As Karin already knows, the Three-Tails was critically injured during the battle by the Two-Tails' first Bijuudama, forcing the Hidden Mist to look for a new Jinchuriki."

"That would be Rin." Karin said.

"And the Two-Tails and Three-Tails' names are Matatabi and Isobu!" Naruto added.

"At any rate, Matatabi was going to fire another Bijuudama, but before she could, Jashin was released from the Shinigami and he stole Kagemaru's body, saving the village from Matatabi so he could destroy it himself. Unbeknownst to him though, Orochimaru arrived just in time to watch Jashin steal Kagemaru's body. He planned to blackmail Jashin using his witnessing of the village's destruction as leverage, but Jashin turned it back on him and threatened to seal him in the Shinigami if he didn't help lock Jashin away in such a manner that _only Kagemaru's wife and child could release him_ … and _kill anyone else that could have done it._ "

"That's why Orochimaru copied the _Soul Attractor Field._ " Karin replied. "And the 'kill anyone else that could have done it' part… That means _Nagato_ , doesn't it, Sasuke? He's also a pure-blooded member of the Kagura Dynasty…"

"You're exactly right, Karin…"

Nagato looked down in apprehension.

"Jashin knew Fuso moved to the Land of Rain from Kagemaru's memories, and when Orochimaru was told of this, he recalled _the red-headed boy with the Rinnegan_ he saw during the Second Ninja World War - _you_ , Nagato – and came to the conclusion he was Fuso's son and had to die as per Jashin's instructions." Sasuke said. "But rather than risk doing it himself, he _told Danzo_ _about it_ , using his obsession with protecting the village to kill you while keeping the remaining members of the Kagura Dynasty safe by falsely claiming he killed Kagura the Second himself right after leaving the Hidden Whirlpool Village."

Nagato looked back up in comprehension. "So that's what you mean. Danzo came to the Hidden Rain and formed an alliance with Hanzo so he could kill me and prevent me from releasing Jashin… as _Orochimaru_ planned."

"Orochimaru also likely joined Akatsuki so he could kill you, since Big Brother didn't join until _after_ he did… Well, that and loot the Rinnegan off your corpse so he could study it."

"But that implies Orochimaru knew who Pain really was all along…" Nagato objected.

"And what's wrong with that, Nagato?" Sasuke asked, his expression darkening.

Nagato froze in horror as he failed to think up an answer.

"So you understand…" Sasuke continued. "Despite sending Ameko to spread the rumour that you died, Orochimaru knew who you were from the beginning because he learned from Danzo that you survived that battle and _awakened the full power of your Rinnegan_ thanks to Yahiko's death… just as the mastermind foresaw."

"So the plan's endgame wasn't to _kill_ Nagato, but to have him _filled with despair!_ … Hold the fuck up…." Karin began sweating at the realization. "Filled with despair… Just like Obito! Did _Madara_ plan Yahiko's death as well as Rin's, Sasuke?!"

"No… not Madara. Madara can't really be called the mastermind behind Rin's death either. He may have come up with the plan, but someone else manipulated him _into_ coming up with that plan… _That person_ is the mastermind behind both murders, and by extension Jashin's release. _Jashin's accomplice_ , in other words."

Karin gasped in shock as she figured it out:

" _Black Zetsu…_ Kamina and Yoko were killed on the same day after Jashin was sealed into the Shinigami, by someone that could watch battles and sneak up on people without being detected even by Kamina's _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ , and leave no trace of their bodies behind! Black Zetsu could _merge with the planet_ to avoid detection, and dispose of Kamina's and Yoko's bodies by _**eating them!**_ "

"Yes… Zetsu could do those things…" Nagato crossed his arms and pouted, lost in thought. "That's why he was the ideal spy for Akatsuki. But I suppose that would also make him the ideal _assassin…_ And while the _White_ Zetsu were inside the _Gedo Mazo_ until Madara summoned it off the moon, _Black_ Zetsu was free to do as he pleased…"

"Zetsu… it's a fitting name for him." Sasuke grimly remarked. "Zetsu is the first two thirds of 'Zetsubo'… or in other words, _despair._ Appropriate for someone like Zetsu, after you know what he's responsible for."

"In any case, we're still no closer to figuring out how I received my Rinnegan…" Nagato pointed out. "What do we do now?"

Sasuke, Karin, and Naruto all went quiet, trying to think of any leads they may have had. Eventually, one person broke the silence:

"I'm not sure it's related to how you got the Rinnegan, Nagato, but there _is_ something that's bugging me…" Naruto said, stroking his chin and raising an eyebrow.

"What's on your mind, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"It's about Nagato's mom… From what we've been saying, Fuso Uzumaki was this _super badass Kunoichi_ that took down _**every Jashinist in the world**_ once upon a time… How does someone _that_ incredible lose to three ordinary Leaf ninja in her own house?"

"Now that you mention it, that's not the _only_ thing that's strange." Karin added. "As a member of the Kagura Dynasty, she should have been able to _sense the enemies coming_ , and escaped along with you and your dad, Nagato… A battle taking place in your home _at all_ is suspicious."

Nagato was struggling to comprehend the contradictions in his parents' deaths, anxious of where they would lead. "That's…"

"The two of you are definitely on to something." Sasuke said. "I have an issue of my own with how Nagato's parents' died. When I spoke with Orochimaru about Fuso, I didn't know which ninja killed her, but now that I know they were Leaf ninja, those Leaf ninja should have _recognized Fuso on sight_ as a member of the Uzumaki clan, an _ally._ Same the other way around too; Fuso should have seen her clan's symbol on the Hidden Leaf flak jackets and known not to attack them."

"The lights were off." Nagato protested. "Neither party could see the other clearly until after the fight, when the Leaf ninja turned the lights on looking for food…"

"And what did those Leaf ninja say when they saw their victims?" Sasuke asked.

"They said their victims were _civilians_ and were horrified at what they did when they noticed it…"

"But they said nothing about you or your mother being members of the Uzumaki clan?"

Nagato silently shook his head, distraught.

"That's not fair, Sasuke!" Naruto objected. "You saying that the ninja who killed Nagato's parents should have known Fuso was an Uzumaki just cause of her red hair?! Gaara has red hair and he isn't an Uzumaki! And I _am_ an Uzumaki but I _don't_ have red hair! There isn't a real contradiction here!"

"It's not just the hair, Naruto!" Karin said. "Fuso was a pure-blooded member of the Kagura Dynasty, and _the First Hokage and Mito's niece_ on top of it! There's a stronger family resemblance between us Kagura Dynasty members! Butsuma said my eyes look just like Kagura the First's, and aside from my hairstyle, I look _**identical**_ to Mom and Great Great Grandma! Hell, Ameko thought I looked enough like Nagato to be his daughter, and that wasn't far off from the truth, what with Nagato being Mom's biological half-brother and all!"

"Danzo could tell Karin was a member of the Kagura Dynasty on sight as well." Sasuke added. "The red hair alone wouldn't have given it away."

Naruto sighed. "When you put it like that, I guess you _do_ have a point…"

"But what does all of this mean?" Nagato wondered, almost afraid of what the answer would be.

"One thing has become clear from our discussion; your mother and the Leaf ninja were _all_ acting strangely." Sasuke declared. "The meaning behind that… I have an idea, and it _will_ sound crazy at first, so please bear with me."

"Alright… what's your theory?" Karin asked.

"My theory is… your parents and the Leaf ninja that killed them, Nagato…" Sasuke took a deep breath before finishing, "… were all impostors. _None of them_ were really the people you thought they were."

Everyone else was taken aback, bewildered by Sasuke's assertion.

"That can't be possible." Nagato objected. "I sensed Mother and Father's chakra! They had to be my parents… right?"

Naruto's eyes widened with horror as he recalled his experiences in the war:

"No… There was _one way_ someone could mimic your parents right down to the chakra: _White Zetsu._ The clones could transform into anyone they absorbed chakra from, including changing their chakra and using their techniques! They were weaker than the originals and their personalities differed, but otherwise they were exactly the same! The only way to tell a White Zetsu in disguise apart from the genuine article is through Kurama's ability to detect evil intentions!"

"The _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique can detect evil too, Naruto!" Karin objected. "Surely Nagato could tell that his parents and the assailants were up to no good using his own sensing if they really were White Zetsu Clones in disguise!"

"Actually, that's something I cannot do." Nagato said. "I stopped training my sixth sense after I could see, so I'm afraid more technical aspects of the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique are things I never learned. That's why Yahiko recruited Ameko into Akatsuki to be its dedicated sensor; her sensing abilities are more detailed than mine. Regardless, if my parents and the Leaf ninja really were White Zetsu Clones, then I would have had no way of distinguishing them from the originals. Then again, I killed all the Leaf ninja myself in revenge and buried my parents personally. All the dead bodies were that of the originals; they didn't revert to White Zetsu…"

Naruto sadly shook his head. "That doesn't contradict anything, Nagato. White Zetsu's mimicry ability… It doesn't end with death. During Kisame's fight with Uncle B, he fused with Samehada and hid inside it while White Zetsu took his place, and lost the fight on purpose to fake Kisame's death. Uncle B took Kisame behind enemy lines with Samehada, and the White Zetsu Clone that died as Kisame _remained_ a clone of Kisame at least until after Uncle B and the Cloud ninja that came to his rescue left the scene of the fight."

"So White Zetsu could have kept up appearances as your parents and the Leaf ninja even after they all died." Sasuke concluded. "The scenario is at least possible; that's undeniable."

"But that raises the question: if my parents and their attackers were all fake, then where were the originals? Where were my real parents when that was going on?!" Nagato asked.

 _That's the question indeed… If we take my theory as the truth, then that means White Zetsu staged Nagato's parents' 'death'… and Black Zetsu was letting Madara think he created the White Zetsu at the time, so Madara would have been the one to engineer the staged fight. If that's the case, then the motive is clear… the Rinnegan! Madara wanted Nagato to bond with the Rinnegan by making him feel the despair of his parents' deaths. But for some reason, Madara couldn't use Nagato's real parents like he used Rin to break Obito, and had to settle for fakes… And for White Zetsu to copy Nagato's parents, they had to absorb some of the originals' chakra… That means they had to have met each other at least once before. That one time… that's it! That's when Nagato was given his Rinnegan! But in that case… there's something I have to make clear!_

Sasuke's train of logic finally reached a stopping point, and when it did:

"Nagato! Moments before you could see for the first time, what were you experiencing with your other senses?!"

"My other senses? My memory from before I received the Rinnegan is very hazy, but from what little I remember from back then… I think I heard Mother panicking about something and leaving the house in a rush. Then I heard her scream. Something bad must have happened, so Father tried to run after her and took me with him, afraid of leaving me all alone. By the time we got to where Mother was… I think I fell asleep, because between then and seeing for the first time, I didn't sense anything at all. But Mother and Father were safe and carrying me home after that, so whatever caused Mother so much distress must have been dealt with…"

"I see…" Sasuke closed his eyes, thinking over Nagato's account. "It's all coming together exactly as I thought it would."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Exactly as you thought? What are you thinking, anyway?!"

"I'm thinking that by the time Nagato got his Rinnegan… his parents were _already replaced_ with White Zetsu."

Everyone froze with horror.

"Hear me out." Sasuke continued. "Fuso panicked about something and went out alone to check what it was. If that was Black Zetsu revealing himself in Fuso's sensing range on purpose, then she'd try to subdue him like any Jashinist. But when she'd arrive at his location, Black Zetsu would attach himself to her like a parasite, the same way he did with Obito during the war, in order to take control of her, absorb some of her chakra, and _deliberately scream_ using Fuso's voice to lure Nagato and his father over to his location. By the time they reached Black Zetsu, Nagato fell asleep… or if he didn't, then Black Zetsu used Fuso's _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ to deprive Nagato of his senses and chakra control, ensuring he couldn't witness what followed in any capacity."

Naruto gulped. "And what followed was? …"

"The deaths of my parents…" Nagato inferred, terrified at the implications. "Their _real_ deaths… Black Zetsu killed my parents and ate their bodies to remove any trace of their existence. But before that, he had a pair of White Zetsu absorb my parents' chakra and transform into them, all while I had no senses… When I woke up with my new eyes, I was unaware _my parents were already dead…_ and replaced with copies!"

"That's not all Zetsu did." Sasuke grimly pointed out. "White Zetsu used the opportunity to take out your eyes and give you the Rinnegan at Madara's behest. And you _didn't feel a thing_ when it happened because your senses were sealed away. That was the whole point of your parents' murder: so _Madara could give you his Rinnegan._ Of course, Madara didn't need to know Black Zetsu assisted his White brethren in accomplishing the deed. All they'd have to do to hide Black Zetsu's involvement is say that they had to kill your parents before the transplant and left copies behind so you could bond with the Rinnegan later by witnessing their ' _deaths_ ' all over again."

"And thus Madara sent a few more White Zetsu to monitor Nagato's house and take advantage of the chaos of the Second Ninja World War when it broke out, killing and replacing some Leaf Ninja to kill your ' _parents_ ' with, making you think the Hidden Leaf was responsible…" Karin concluded. "What I don't get is why did it matter to Madara that Nagato see his parents die, one way or the other?"

"That's the strangest part of all." Sasuke said. "Somehow, Nagato reacted _just like Obito did_ when faced with a similar situation. Twice, in fact. And if I recall correctly, Ameko claimed Nagato's chakra became _colder and darker_ after Yahiko's death… just like _mine_ did for a time after Itachi's death. No matter what way you look at it, Nagato, you react to trauma the same way an _Uchiha_ does. What do you think that means?"

"No… you can't be serious…" Nagato's face cracked more than what was typical for reanimated bodies, overwhelmed by what Sasuke was insinuating. "But my hair… I'm pure-blooded Uzumaki… I have to be!"

Sasuke shook his head. "Actually… you _don't_ have to be. Jashin's the proof. He got the red hair of the pure-blooded Uzumaki, but he still got _one dominant gene_ from his civilian mother; the Magnet Style gene. It's a requirement for Blood Style… Anyway, Jashin was _only mostly Uzumaki…_ and _so are you_ , Nagato. You received most of your dominant traits from your Uzumaki mother, but you got _one dominant gene_ from your father. And considering what clan your father belonged to, it was _the one gene that mattered._ "

Naruto gasped. "Then while Nagato's mom was an Uzumaki… Nagato's dad _**was an Uchiha?!**_ "

"It's the only thing that makes sense. The way Nagato reacted just like Obito did when his parents' fakes and Yahiko died, and why Madara required Nagato to witness his parents' death after getting the Rinnegan. Nagato's brain emits the same surge of spiritual energy as any Uchiha does when they lose a loved one to awaken and empower the Sharingan. Madara, and by extension Black Zetsu, was planning to abuse that to make the Rinnegan more powerful, and turn him away from Nagato's belief in peace. If only I had any idea who Nagato's father _was_ ; I don't know much about my clan's history in between Madara's and my father's tenures as Clan Leader… You know if there were any Uchiha that were in the Hidden Rain Village in between the First and Second Ninja World Wars, Nagato?"

"… Just one… After I purged the Land of Rain of Hanzo's influence, I went through all his personal belongings, studying his mannerisms and history so I could make the world outside the country believe that Hanzo was still in charge. It was then that I learned about his actions during the First Ninja World War. The first time Hanzo was deployed in battle after he became poisonous, he and his team were up against a Hidden Leaf platoon led by a man named _Sasuke Sarutobi._ "

"My namesake…"

"Apparently, the battle was proving very difficult for the Hidden Rain, being outnumbered and in Sasuke Sarutobi's case, out-skilled." Nagato continued. "In his desperation, Hanzo removed his mask and summoned Ibuse for the first time, filling the entire battlefield with poison. Everyone on both sides died except for Hanzo himself. But Sasuke Sarutobi stayed alive long enough to congratulate Hanzo on defeating him, and in his final moments, requested that Hanzo call himself _Hanzo of the Salamander_ in battle as a reminder that he was the one who defeated him."

"So Sasuke Sarutobi was _a hero_ to Hanzo…" Naruto said. "Certainly explains how he developed his habit of sparing worthy opponents and giving them monikers like what happened with _The Legendary Sannin…_ "

"That's cool and all, but how does that relate to your father, Nagato?!" Karin asked.

"That's the next part. Several months after the battle, Hanzo was approached by a lone Uchiha looking for _revenge:_ Sasuke Sarutobi's student Ise Uchiha. Ise didn't stand a chance against Hanzo, but Hanzo still left Ise alive to think his actions over, hoping he'd become strong enough to challenge him again one day… if he managed to overcome the poison Hanzo afflicted him with during their battle. Unfortunately, that was the last Hanzo ever saw of Ise; he didn't know whether or not he survived."

"That must have been when he met Fuso." Sasuke inferred. "Fuso probably found Ise reeling from the poison when she first moved to the Land of Rain and nursed him back to health. And they fell in love from there."

"Hey… you think it was Ise's Sharingan that Madara replaced his Rinnegan with, Sasuke?" Naruto wondered.

"It's possible… If Fuso was killed before Ise, then Ise would have awakened his Sharingan seeing his lover die, if he hadn't awakened it already… And White Zetsu could have easily plucked Ise's Sharingan off his corpse before eating it and given the eyes to Madara."

Karin looked up in wonder. "Wow… So not only did Karin the First and Sasuke Sarutobi meet at the First Hokage and Mito's wedding, Karin the First's _granddaughter_ and Sasuke Sarutobi's _student_ fell in love and became Nagato's parents!"

Sasuke made a faint laugh. "Orochimaru, that snake… I bet he knew all along. Trying to get us to _have children together_ , Karin… He was planning to give birth to _another Nagato_ , in more ways than one…"

As if on cue, Karin started to laugh with him.

"Hold on, you guys…" Naruto interjected. "You're saying Orochimaru was… trying to hook you two up? How can you be _laughing_ at that? Don't you realize how freaking _**creepy**_ that is?!"

"That's not it, Naruto." Nagato said. "I believe they're simply displaying their pride in their own choices in life. They were able to defy the fate Orochimaru laid out for them; they learned to love each other in a way Orochimaru didn't intend for. That much I can see from the expressions on their faces right now. The ending to the fourth volume will definitely be a happy one…"

Suddenly, Nagato's expression darkened, and his tone of voice darkened with it:

"Unlike the second one ... I learned that much today… My missing chapter was revealed to me, and even so all I can think is that my own story wasn't even about me. From beginning to end, I was merely a puppet Black Zetsu was controlling; I had no will of my own. Even when I tried to defy my fate at the very end by reviving the Hidden Leaf, Black Zetsu still had multiple contingencies to make my sacrifice pointless, getting everything he wanted out of me anyway… I had no more free agency than _a bird in a cage._ "

"That's not true, Nagato!"

Without any further warning, Naruto attempted to punch Nagato in the face, tears forming in his eyes all the while. Nagato, feeling too dejected to put up a fight, let Naruto hit him; his reanimated body seamlessly recovered from the damage. The violence alerted Sasuke and Karin, who immediately stopped laughing together and focused their attention on Naruto and Nagato.

"Black Zetsu might have caused some bad stuff to happen to you, but the decisions and sacrifices you made were all your own! The only one who gets to decide your fate is yourself!" Naruto shouted. "Neji… he… he was spouting the same _hopeless bullshit_ before I kicked his ass and changed his mind! After that, he decided of his own free will to change his clan for the better. He even personally trained Hinata to make amends for trying to kill her during the Chunin Exams… And he died to protect the both of us, believing in his own freedom to the very end! He learned to have faith in himself… You can too!"

"I appreciate the sentiment, Naruto, but…" Nagato buried his head in his hands in shame, "… knowing what I know now, those words seem hollow to me. I don't know what happened to your friend Neji to make him think like I do now, but I sincerely doubt that _every aspect of his life_ was being meticulously plotted by someone else. As for me, it wouldn't surprise me if Black Zetsu was the true mastermind behind the First Ninja World War, using Sasuke Sarutobi's death and Hidan's grandfather's change of heart to bring my parents together, all for the sake of creating _**me,**_ an ideal wielder of the Rinnegan, having the long life span of the Uzumaki and the Curse of Hatred of the Uchiha. Almost my entire path in life was decided _the moment I was born…_ "

"No, Nagato… Naruto's right." Sasuke stood up as he spoke, tired of sitting and noticing two women approaching them from the south as far back as he could see, one riding on the other's back. "Even if Black Zetsu planned your whole life out in advance, your life still belonged to you first and foremost."

"Please spare me the empty words… I'm just a dead-"

"I have proof." Sasuke pointed down to Nagato's head. "It's all in your eyes."

"My eyes? You mean the Rinnegan?"

Sasuke nodded with a smile. "You claimed that your whole life was decided _the moment you were born_ , but you were born _completely blind._ Yet you still have the Rinnegan after your death. Those eyes were awakened by Madara according to Black Zetsu's design, not you, and yet _the Shinigami let you keep the Rinnegan_. In fact, I suspect you were the only one who ever used Madara's Rinnegan that got to keep them in the afterlife."

"That doesn't make sense, Sasuke!" Naruto objected. "I know Obito's spirit didn't get the Rinnegan because he had both his Sharingan before he died, but Madara could use the Rinnegan as a zombie! Wouldn't that mean he got the Rinnegan after death too?!"

"If he did, then the Rinnegan Madara had as a zombie wouldn't have dissolved into ash when he was revived with _Samsara of Heavenly Life._ " Sasuke pointed out.

Naruto stroked his chin. "Then why did Madara have the Rinnegan as a zombie in the first place?"

Karin gasped and her eyes widened as she came to an epiphany:

"I got it! It was Kabuto's modding that did it! When we talked to Butsuma, Sasuke said that Indra chakra + Asura chakra + death = Rinnegan! Madara was dead, and Kabuto restored him to his prime using the First Hokage's DNA and chakra, so… Bam, Rinnegan! Madara wouldn't have had the Rinnegan _at all_ if Kabuto didn't mod his summon!"

"So… Nagato _**earned**_ his afterlife Rinnegan!" Naruto enthusiastically declared as he stood up alongside Sasuke. "And in order to earn something… you can't be pre-destined for it; you need to put in the effort! Black Zetsu may have created the Rinnegan within Madara, but those eyes belong to _**you**_ more than anyone! You _**earned**_ your Rinnegan; having them after death is proof!"

"Yes… you're right…" Nagato smiled as he placed an arm around Karin, who was still sitting next to him. "Please, Karin… if you would help me stand with Naruto and Sasuke…"

Karin happily nodded and helped him up, turning around to see the pair of chakra she sensed coming minutes ago, a few feet behind them.

"Hey everybody!" Sakura waved hello as widely as she could with Hinata at her back, holding her up with only one hand. "Who's the guy in the red cloak?! And where's Hidan?!"

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted, running past Karin and Nagato and to their side.

"Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed as he dashed alongside Sasuke.

Karin turned herself and Nagato around to walk toward the others. "I believe those women need no introduction to you, but you should meet them before you depart. To say you're sorry if nothing else!"

"Of course…" Nagato sighed and allowed Karin to lead him to Sakura and Hinata.

"Hinata… your leg!" Naruto panicked. "Are you okay?!"

"Mostly… I'm sad that I won't be able to walk by your side anymore, but I'm happy that Sasuke-kun and I were able to save you and everyone else, no matter the cost. That's the important thing to me, Naruto…"

"Hey… we could give you a new leg! I got a new arm from Granny Tsunade using the First Hokage's cells. I bet we could use them to give you a leg too!"

"I'd like that…" Hinata smiled as she looked over Sakura's shoulder into Naruto's eyes. "Thank you…"

"In the meantime Naruto, be a good boyfriend and support Hinata, would you? …" Sakura said as she turned around and put Hinata's body between herself and Naruto.

The blond Uzumaki promptly grabbed hold of Hinata with both arms, one at the small of her back and the other at her thighs, and held her close to his body. Then he smiled and looked down into her creamy, wondrous eyes. "I won't let you go until we get home, Hinata! And I never go back on my word, that's my ninja way!"

In response, Hinata reached up to Naruto's shoulders, pulled herself up to Naruto's face, and pecked him on the lips:

"That's _my_ ninja way too."

Naruto stood stiff for a moment, overwhelmed with lust, but quickly returned to his senses, adamant on keeping his word lest he drop Hinata by accident.

"So what happened to Hidan, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked, stretching to loosen her limbs a little after carrying Hinata the whole way. Sasuke pointed at a headless body on the ground, with the top half of a head nearby. "He managed to make himself unable to talk… dammit."

"Don't worry. I used the Human Path to read Hidan's mind and I learned where the Holy Grail is. It's just a matter of us getting there now."

"Aren't you forgetting the part where Naruto and I defeated Hidan without your help, Sasuke?!"

With Karin's announcement came her arrival at their location with Nagato. Sasuke and Sakura looked in their direction, and Naruto and Hinata soon followed suit.

"Sakura, Hinata…" Karin continued, "I'd like you both to meet the Second Leader of Akatsuki; Son of Fuso Uzumaki, Karin the First's granddaughter, and Ise Uchiha, Sasuke Sarutobi's student; my mother's first cousin and biological half-brother, and the rightful owner of the Rinnegan according to the Shinigami. Naruto's indirect namesake… Uncle Nagato Uzumaki!"

"So you're the one that destroyed the village and put Lady Tsunade into a coma… And killed Kakashi-Sensei and Shizune-Senpai looking for Naruto… And almost killed Hinata too…" Sakura accused, her anger boiling.

"But he's also the one that gave his life to bring everyone back!" Naruto added. "Nagato's changed… like Obito, Kabuto, and Sasuke did!"

"Naruto… please stop defending me." Nagato protested. Naruto decided to heed Nagato's request and let him speak for himself; put in the same situation as Nagato, surely he would have done the same thing.

"Sakura Haruno… It's true that I did all those things, and at this point there's nothing further I can do to make amends. I don't have the same luxury as the others. I understand the pain I must have put you and the entire village through that day…"

Nagato took a moment to pause and divert his focus on to Naruto and Hinata before quickly looking back to Sakura.

"I get that feeling how you do about me is only human nature. Nevertheless, I'm sorry. Continue seeing me as an enemy if you wish; all I ask is that you keep fighting alongside Naruto and Sasuke to bring peace to the world. You defeated Sasori and were essential to defeating Kaguya as well, so you're strong enough to stay at their sides… I have faith in that."

Hearing Nagato's speech, Sakura's anger waned and she instead let out a single tear of joy before replying:

"I was going to do that anyway, whether you asked me to or not… But I'm glad you did! Now I'll be sure to try to understand you a bit more. I was able to understand Itachi and Obito despite the terrible things they did, so I might be able to understand you too… I'll do what I can to make sure the pain you've caused me doesn't control my opinion of you… Cha!"

Sasuke and Naruto both smiled hearing Sakura's answer, and Sasuke further placed his hand at the small of her back, pulling her close to him, her chest touching his abs.

"I hate to ruin the moment, Sasuke, but…" Karin interjected, forcing Sasuke to look to her and Nagato, "You've got to send Nagato back to the Pure World now so he can rest in peace!"

"Of course… Excuse me, Sakura."

Sasuke let go and walked over to Karin and Nagato. Then he placed his hand on Nagato's head and looked into Nagato's Rinnegan with his own. "Nagato… One last thing before you go. You should know that your body was buried alongside Yahiko's and Konan's." Listening to this, Nagato quietly smiled. "So no matter where your soul goes from here, part of you will always be with them, and part of them will always be with you. As for your dream … It lives on in all of us. There's still a long way to go, but the world you dreamed of is steadily getting closer to becoming a reality. And we're all dedicated to keeping the world on that path. Please watch over us in the next world along with my brother, my parents, my namesake, and everyone else who gave their lives so the world could become what it is today."

"Like Mom, Dad, Pervy Sage, and Obito!" Naruto shouted.

"And Big Brother Neji," Hinata added.

"Don't forget Lady Chiyo!" Sakura also added.

"There are the other members of the Kagura Dynasty too, Uncle Nagato!" Karin added in turn.

"I'll have to meet with Akatsuki as well, whether from Yahiko's generation or mine… And my parents … It would be the first time I ever saw them for real." Nagato concluded with a smile. "Very well… It's time for me to go."

Suddenly, Nagato was engulfed in white light and began involuntarily floating into the air. Karin lost her balance as Nagato floated away and was about to fall, but Sasuke quickly caught her, and then looked up into the sky.

"I see… it seems like I didn't need the Human Path used on me, Sasuke… Resolving everything that needed to be resolved about my life was enough for my spirit to pass on all on its own! … You have my thanks, all of you!"

As Nagato said this, everyone still living went silent. Nagato was then consumed by the light and called back to the Pure World, shooting into the sky and eventually disappearing entirely.

"Goodbye, Uncle Nagato…" Karin thought aloud as she stood up with Sasuke's help.

[X-X-X]

Aside from that one farewell, no one spoke for several minutes. It was Sakura who eventually broke the silence, alarming everyone with her voice:

"So, umm… You said you know where the Holy Grail is, Sasuke-kun, but you haven't actually told us where it is yet."

"Right… I guess we were all too occupied with mourning Nagato to get on with the mission at hand. Sorry for the delay. I couldn't believe it when I learned it myself, but it makes sense in hindsight, considering Kamina, Karin the First, Fuso, and Kagura the Second all never found it…"

" _ **Get on with it!**_ " Karin and Naruto shouted in unison.

"Alright… The Holy Grail was never found by the Uzumaki clan… because _it isn't even in the Land of Hot Water._ Jashin must have thought along similar lines as Fuzai, not hiding valuable evidence in his own home. Jashinism's home country is the Land of Hot Water… but the Holy Grail is in the _neighbouring_ country… the Land of Frost."


	56. Chapter 55: The Subjectivity of Fate

Everyone was flabbergasted by Sasuke's remark regarding where the Holy Grail of Jashin was hidden. "The Land of Frost?!" They asked the Uchiha in unison.

"Yeah… there isn't any time to explain."

Sasuke stood up, helping Karin to her feet as well, and then turned his focus Naruto's way. "Naruto, can Gamakichi swim?"

"I think so… why does it matter?"

"Odaka can only carry four people at a time, and there are _five_ of us, obviously!" Sakura pointed out.

"That's not my _only_ concern." Sasuke said. "If we just needed more room for passengers, I could summon Aoda; he can swim, and his soul should have returned to his body along with Naruto's and mine. But Aoda and I would be going in _different directions_ , and I wouldn't be able to cancel his summon when he'd finally reach his destination."

Hinata tilted her head in confusion. "Different directions, Sasuke-kun? But aren't we all going toward the Holy Grail?"

"No. Only Sakura, Karin, and I are heading for the Holy Grail _._ Hinata, you and Naruto are going back to the Hidden Leaf. I don't mean to offend, but in your current condition you'd only be a liability in battle, and Karin's a good enough sensor that your Byakugan aren't needed. You need to go back home as soon as possible and get Tsunade to make a prosthetic leg for you. That's the best way you can be useful to us right now."

"That reminds me!" Karin interjected, "On our way here, Jashin blew up a chunk of Shikamaru's shoulder and took out Killer B's left arm! Naruto… could you pick them up and bring them to the Hidden Leaf too? Someone will have to tell them Hidan's been taken care of anyhow…"

"That's a good idea." Sasuke said. "In fact… B can have _my_ prosthetic arm, if he wants it."

Sakura frowned. "You're sure about that?"

Sasuke gazed into Sakura's eyes and nodded. "Yes. B… I tried to kidnap him for Akatsuki, and despite that, he showed me the Falls of Truth and let me train there. Letting B use my arm is the _least_ I could do to pay him back for how kind he's been to me. Have you been following, Naruto?"

"Yeah… leave it to me! I'll take Hinata, Uncle B, and Shikamaru back to the village so Granny Tsunade can repair their limbs, and I'll also make sure to say it's okay to give Uncle B your arm, Sasuke!"

Naruto let Hinata down gently on the ground, allowing her to sit as he bit his right thumb and slammed his hand down, away from everyone else. A cloud of white smoke as large as Aoda's appeared in the distance, and a massive orange toad clad in a blue robe emerged as the cloud faded. This toad looked down to the group of five and said hello:

"S'up, Naruto! Haven't seen you since the war! What's going on?!"

"My girlfriend is wounded and I got to take her home, Gamakichi!"

Naruto pointed to Hinata, who was sitting next to him, missing her right leg. Gamakichi looked at Hinata, and then at Sakura, confused.

"Huh? But isn't your girlfriend right behind you?" the toad said as he pointed straight at Sakura with one of his forelegs.

" _ **NO WAY, CHA!**_ "

Sakura was just moments away from punching apart the entire island before Sasuke swapped places with the air next to her and caught her left fist on its way down with his hand, freezing her in place. Sakura's anger waned, and it transformed into lust and embarrassment as Sasuke changed his grip so that his palm was touching hers and their fingers were intertwined. Karin was reminded of when Suigetsu held her hand when he rejected Kurotsuchi's advances, and everyone else recalled when Naruto and Hinata held hands during the war. Sasuke then looked Gamakichi right in the eyes and smirked:

"As you can see here, Sakura is _my_ girlfriend, not Naruto's."

Gamakichi retracted his foreleg. "That's weird… I was sure Naruto was trying to save his girlfriend at the very end of the Chunin Exams, when he fought that guy with Shukaku… Gaara was his name, right?"

"Sakura was only caught by Gaara in the first place because she saved _me._ " Sasuke said, Sakura silently blushing in response. "You weren't summoned until _after_ that part."

"And Hinata here… she saved me from Nagato, from _Pain_ , and you toads were forced to leave right _before_ that part!" Naruto added. "I only liked Sakura-chan because I wanted to get closer to Sasuke and couldn't admit it to myself… That's what Sasuke told me at any rate, and after thinking on it for a while I agree with him. Regardless, Sasuke and I are really _**lucky**_ guys, having women so devoted to us at our sides!"

 _That's really odd, Naruto… You say that, your face tells me you're happy about it, and I'm sensing you believe it, but the way you said the word 'lucky'… it's almost as if you don't_ _ **want**_ _to be lucky to have Hinata at your side… Are you still lying to yourself about something, even now?_ Karin thought.

"I see… Guess that was a major misunderstanding on my part! My bad!" Gamakichi hopped in place, turning himself around 180 degrees and motioning for Naruto and Hinata to get on his back. "Anyway, I'll gladly bring you guys back to the Hidden Leaf… if you point out where to go. I have no idea where we are!"

"Let me take care of that." Karin said. Then she walked in front of Naruto and held out her right hand, making half of a Tiger hand seal:

"Since you're going to fetch Killer B and Team Asuma on the way, you might as well use the route Jashin used to get here, just in reverse. I can't send images into your head the way Sasuke can with his Sharingan, so I'll have to share my experiences another way… like using that _Ninshu_ thing the Sage of the Six Paths talked about."

"Using the _Seal of Reconciliation?_ " Naruto inferred from Karin's hand gesture.

"Sasuke taught this seal to me and the rest of Taka a couple weeks ago. Since it means that combatants will remain comrades no matter the outcome of a battle, I figure it's appropriate for _Ninshu_ too. After all… we _became family_ here, defeating Hidan and helping Uncle Nagato pass on together, and while we may go our separate ways, we'll _still be family_ no matter where we are."

"Kabuto and Kurama used _Ninshu_ with me the same way too." Sasuke added. "Go ahead, Naruto. Use the _Seal of Reconciliation_ with Karin and combine your chakra."

Naruto nodded at Sasuke's suggestion and completed the Seal of Reconciliation with his own right hand. It took about a minute for Naruto to witness Karin's memories, from Jashin abducting her in the Hidden Leaf Village to her arrival on Whirlpool Island with him and Hidan. Once he was finished gathering Karin's memories, the two Uzumaki let go of each other's hands. Naruto then picked Hinata up once again and leaped on to Gamakichi's back.

"I know the way we need to go! Head due west from here! And make sure to jump _**as far as you can**_ when you reach the water, so you don't get caught in the swift currents and whirlpools surrounding this island! I'll protect Hinata and make sure she doesn't fall off when you do!"

After giving his instructions to Gamakichi, Naruto turned back to face Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura, allowing Hinata to see them without the need of her Byakugan. "Sasuke, Sakura-chan, Karin… You better give Jashin what's coming to him! Don't let Nagato's will go to waste! Not Hidan's either!"

"Come back safely, Sasuke-kun, Sakura-san, Karin-san!" Hinata added as she waved goodbye. Sakura and Karin waved in turn while Sasuke looked on, hand still holding Sakura's. Without another word from either party, Gamakichi left for the west with Naruto and Hinata on his back.

Sasuke then promptly released his hold on Sakura and bit his thumb, summoning Odaka the same way Naruto just summoned Gamakichi. "We need to leave too. I learned I could use Susano'o to fly in the Shinigami, but I still doubt I can keep it held long enough to fly across whole countries… At any rate, Karin, you get in the back as you usually do. Sakura… you're in the back too."

"Awww… Why can't I be in the front again?"

"Two reasons. The first is that you need to be a lookout like Suigetsu and Hinata were; that's something Karin and I can't do with our own jobs as sensor and pilot, respectively. And the second is…" Sasuke started blushing, looking away from Sakura in embarrassment, "… I don't want either of us getting distracted by each other."

"Oh…"

Sakura looked down, dejected, but snapped her head back up and smiled. "I get it. You can count on me! Cha!"

And with that, Sakura eagerly jumped into the seat Kurama once sat in. Karin followed her into the back, and Sasuke entered the pilot's seat shortly afterwards, grabbing the reins and commanding Odaka to lift off and fly north-north-west for the Land of Hot Water, and the Land of Frost after that.

[X-X-X]

It had been roughly twenty minutes since Sasuke and company left Whirlpool Island. Odaka just entered a steady flight, moving past the whirlpools surrounding the island. The ride was very quiet up to that point with everyone focused on their jobs, but also dealing with the awkwardness of the situation. The last time Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura were all awake in the same place, Sasuke had just stabbed through Karin to hit Danzo and Sasuke and Sakura were actively planning to kill each other. All three of them had mostly overcome their demons that came as a result of that day, but the scenario made them apprehensive all the same. Someone eventually broke the silence, however.

"Sasuke?"

The voice belonged to Karin.

"What's the matter, Karin?" Sasuke asked.

"It's Naruto… I'm worried about him."

"Why's that?" Sakura wondered. "We're the ones heading for danger, and Naruto has Hinata with him."

"It's just…" Karin crossed her arms and closed her eyes, thinking about how to phrase her concern. "Naruto told Uncle Nagato that having the Rinnegan after death couldn't have been pre-destined because he worked to earn that Rinnegan. But when Naruto looked at my memories, I took the opportunity to read _his_ memories too… and I learned about a _prophecy_ regarding Uncle Nagato. One of Jiraiya's students would one day either save the world or bring about its destruction depending on Jiraiya's actions."

"I see… Kurama's memories helped me learn about that prophecy too." Sasuke said. "Nagato could certainly be seen as the subject of that prophecy. It was Nagato's decision to sacrifice himself to revive the Hidden Leaf that became the catalyst for the Shinobi Alliance's birth, since that action forced Obito to start the Fourth Ninja World War to lure Naruto and B out. That could be considered 'saving the world'."

"And it was Lord Jiraiya's dying message, among other things, that gave Naruto the edge he needed to defeat Nagato and convince him to save the village…" Sakura added.

"Yeah, and if Jiraiya _didn't_ do that, then Naruto and the village wouldn't have been prepared for Nagato's assault. That would mean Kurama gets extracted from Naruto, killing him, and Kakashi among other people stays dead. Leaving the Moon Eye Plan to go off without a hitch because the only people capable of stopping Obito would be dead, and without Naruto, I wouldn't have been able to awaken the Rinnegan, let alone free the world from Infinite Tsukiyomi. Then Kaguya and Jashin would have ended up fighting over who rules the world, and no matter who won the world as we know it would be no more… The world would effectively be destroyed."

"That's what has me worried!" Karin shouted. "A prophecy _predicted_ the last day of Uncle Nagato's life! At least several decades in advance! Uncle Nagato's life _**was**_ pre-determined, effort included!"

"Yet Nagato's soul still rose back up to the Pure World." Sasuke objected. "That means he was convinced of his freedom all the same. And Naruto, at least in part, disagrees with you."

"But-"

"That prophecy, and _fate itself_ for that matter, isn't absolute to begin with."

Sasuke's interruption bewildered Karin.

"The way it's phrased, Jiraiya's prophecy is vague enough to be about more than one person." The Uchiha continued. "It could also be about Naruto, or considering Ameko's actions, even Konan. And I'm sure the Fourth Hokage and Yahiko were considered for the role as well. Hell, _my own love life_ is an example of the subjectivity of fate. You get what I mean, right?"

Karin's eyes widened. "Yeah, I get it! The history of Team White Fang, of _your parents_ , would lead one to think you were fated to fall in love with _**Sakura**_ **.** But the history of _Nagato's parents_ , and how they're related to our namesakes, would lead one to think you were fated to fall in love with _**me**_."

"So which is it? Did I _fulfill_ my destiny by falling in love with Sakura, or did I _defy_ it?" Sasuke asked rhetorically.

"I… have no idea," said Karin.

"Me neither…" added Sakura.

"The answer I came up with is this: It's _up to me_ what my fate is, so the question is meaningless." Sasuke revealed. "I'm in love with Sakura because I _choose_ to be, and I'm not in love with Karin, also because I _choose_ to be. Whether or not my decisions were foreseen in advance by a third party is irrelevant."

"Nagato must have come up with the same answer…" Karin figured. "He must have been confused as to whether he fulfilled his destiny or not when he gave his life to revive the Hidden Leaf, living up to the Great Toad Elder's expectations but defying Black Zetsu's. You helped him realize that he _gets to decide_ the answer to that question, Sasuke…"

"Naruto… I believe he's struggling with the same dilemma. Ever since I left the Hidden Leaf four years ago Naruto worked tirelessly to bring me back. He even said on two occasions that he refused to be Hokage until he was able to save me. But him saving me is also another subjectivity of fate. On the one hand, saving Indra's reincarnation is something none of Asura's reincarnations were able to accomplish before him, so one could think Naruto was doomed to repeat it and he defied his fate, especially with Black Zetsu actively working behind the scenes to make that his fate… But then again, the Great Toad Elder _also_ had a prophecy that predicted one of Asura's reincarnations would learn all the names of the Tailed Beasts, unite with them, and work together with Indra's reincarnation to save the world. Unlike the one regarding Jiraiya's student, this one is _indisputably_ referring to Naruto, so depending on who you ask, Naruto could have either fulfilled or defied his destiny by saving me. When Naruto said _'_ _what you work for can't be pre-destined'_ … he was saying it for _his own_ benefit just as much as he said it for Nagato's. I bet he doesn't want his efforts in saving me to be put to waste because an old toad _said_ he would a thousand years ago; he prefers to think he defied his fate rather than fulfilled it."

Karin's eyes lit. "So _**that's**_ why the way he said ' _lucky_ ' was bugging me! He doesn't want to be _**lucky**_ to have Hinata's affection; he wants to _**earn**_ it! When you first told him how Hinata loved him since the beginning, he was relieved and excited, but now that he's had time to think about it, he's realized what Hinata loving him without seeking her out really implies. He doesn't want to be alone, but he also doesn't want to have someone around him that _he feels he doesn't deserve_ _!_ "

"That would be just like Naruto." Sakura remarked. "First he put becoming Hokage on hold so he could earn Sasuke-kun's recognition… and now he's putting it on hold to earn Hinata's."

"Maybe so." Sasuke chuckled as he continued to fly Odaka toward the Land of Frost. What awaited him there, however, arrived over half a day before he did…


	57. Chapter 56: Blood Hidden in Frost

It was several hours before dawn. Jugo had flown Tenten toward their designated meeting spot with the Hidden Cloud Village in the Land of Frost, having just crossed the border into the country. They were scheduled to meet with the Hidden Cloud at noon, but thanks to Jugo's incredible flight speed, they would be several hours early.

They were very fortunate that was the case.

" _ **ARGH!**_ "

Jugo suddenly lost control of his flight and crashed his head into a coniferous tree, one of many lining the area. The impact knocked Jugo out of Sage Mode and knocked Tenten out of Jugo's grip, the two falling into the ground below which was covered in a light coat of snow.

Tenten recovered first and rushed to Jugo's side, helping him sit up next to the tree. "What's wrong, Jugo?! Did something happen to make you lose control like that?!"

Jugo held the bruise on his head with one hand. "Yes… It's happened before… Gyuki's chakra acted up like when Naruto's soul was taken, but this time the reaction was even stronger… This time I think _Gyuki himself_ died…"

"You mean the Eight-Tails?"

Jugo silently nodded, distraught that another friend of his passed away.

"Damn… so Killer B failed to save Karin just as Sasuke feared. Only someone as strong as Jashin could kill a Tailed Beast!" Tenten said.

"That's the most likely explanation…" Jugo mumbled, his teeth chattering. "It's… before morning… and I'm shirtless… and the snow… so cold…"

"Here!" Tenten pulled her weapons scroll off her back and wrapped it around Jugo and herself like a blanket, leaving only their heads exposed, hugging Jugo under the covers. "This should keep us both warm until morning!"

Jugo hugged her in turn. "Thank you, Tenten… You're a very resourceful woman…"

"As the _master of a million ninja tools_ , I'd have to be!" Tenten replied with a grin.

Tenten's grin, however, turned upside down when she and Jugo heard several shuriken flying towards them from behind them.

Instinctively, Jugo dove to the side with Tenten in his arms, hitting the ground and dodging all the shuriken. Most of the shuriken hit the tree instead, but one managed to pierce Tenten's scroll and pin it to the tree. The scroll unraveled around Tenten and Jugo, revealing a giant shirtless man embracing an average-sized woman lying in the snow, unintentionally locking lips for their assailants to see.

The assailants must have been distracted, for no subsequent attacks occurred until the couple got up, Tenten moved towards the tree, and Jugo put himself between her and the unseen enemy, adrenaline and the desire to protect Tenten overcoming the cold. When more shuriken were thrown their way, Jugo braced himself for the incoming attack, but all the shuriken were deflected before they reached him; Tenten pulled out the shuriken from inside the tree and threw them all back, making contact with all of the second wave without missing a single target.

"No one defeats me in a contest of ninja tools!" Tenten declared. She then tapped her scroll in the place where a shuriken penetrated it, conjuring countless kunai, shuriken, and senbon. They surrounded the entire area around the tree in a cloud of steel, connected to Tenten's fingertips through chakra threads. "Get behind the tree, Jugo!"

Without another word, Jugo did as Tenten instructed and took cover, but peeked his head out to watch what Tenten was about to do next.

Tenten lunged forward, thrust her arms out in the direction of her attackers, and let out a scream:

" _ **Million Blade Chaos!**_ "

The ninja tools followed Tenten's command and shot out in the direction of Tenten's arms. It looked to Jugo as if the cloud of steel was rapidly moving away. Tenten and Jugo then heard the sound of metal clashing with metal a few times, but soon enough the prevailing sound was that of ninja being impaled and several screams. Once the screams ended Tenten snapped her fingers with both hands, and the cloud of steel was replaced with countless tiny clouds of smoke. Jugo stepped out from behind the tree and stared in awe at Tenten's back.

"Was that… really a million ninja tools?" Jugo asked, overwhelmed with a mixture of admiration and fear.

Tenten turned around to face Jugo, picking her scroll up but not rolling it. "A million? Nah… I just _say_ it's a million to scare my opponents. It's really only _thirty thousand,_ ten thousand each of kunai, shuriken, and senbon. Using a million at once would take up all my chakra in one go! At least!"

Jugo faintly blushed. "Still… being able to control thirty thousand ninja tools at once is something else… A bit excessive though…"

"Hey! _Million Blade Chaos_ was _**designed**_ for taking out hordes of enemies I can't see! It did its job beautifully!" Tenten said while wrapping Jugo's upper body in her scroll.

"I'm not _arguing_ with you…" Jugo replied as Tenten finished dressing him. "In fact, I'm only convinced even more of how much I'll enjoy sparring with you."

"Yeah! Anyway… we've got to check who our attackers are!"

Tenten promptly turned around, faced where the shuriken came from, and marched toward her fallen enemies with her hands on her hips in triumph. Jugo followed her only moments later.

When Jugo and Tenten arrived at their attackers' location, they saw four people wearing flak jackets with numerous puncture wounds lying dead in the cold snow. They were in a clearing surrounded on all sides by evergreen forest with only a small hut in the centre of the clearing as anything noteworthy about the place. Before they could examine the area, however, Jugo and Tenten noticed one more thing in common with the fallen ninja…

Jugo's jaw dropped. "All of them are wearing _Hidden Frost_ headbands…"

"Why would they try to kill us?! We got the okay from the Hidden Frost's Head Ninja _**and**_ the Frost Daimyo to freely hold our meeting with the Hidden Cloud in the country! Nobody should be trying to stop us! If anything these ninja should have provided us _food and shelter!_ "

It was then that Jugo and Tenten heard another voice nearby, somewhere to their right:

"Thank goodness you're alright."

The voice was somewhat coarse and brittle, but had an air of strength to it. Jugo figured it was a man in their fifties. A few seconds later, the man was in their line of sight, but it was too dark to see the man's face clearly. That changed when he made a few hand seals and subsequently ignited a small yellow flame in his right palm. With that fire helping them, Jugo and Tenten could see some details in the man's face: they had purple hair with some bangs falling just above his thin eyebrows, brown eyes, a few wrinkles showing age, and stubble lining his jaw.

Tenten stroked her chin and raised an eyebrow. "You look familiar… But I can't put my finger where I've seen you before…"

"That's to be expected; you're a Leaf ninja." the man said upon noticing Tenten's forehead protector. "Two members of my family are connected to the Hidden Leaf Village by this point. You may have seen them before."

"Two members?" Jugo asked.

"Yes…" the man dipped his shoulders and sighed. "My son Hidan, who killed Hidden Leaf Jonin Asuma Sarutobi and escaped custody following the Fourth Ninja World War… And my father Judan, who started and ended the First Ninja World War by killing the First and Second Hokages respectively. My name… is Nodan, the current Head Ninja of the Hidden Hot Water Village."

Tenten's eyes widened with comprehension. "Now I can see the resemblance… yeah… I saw your father's face in a textbook I read in the Ninja Academy about the First Ninja World War!"

"So what brings you here, to the Land of Frost?" Jugo asked. "You're Head Ninja of the Hidden Hot Water… You should be in another country entirely."

Nodan faced the hut. "There is a lot to explain, but in short, I came here as soon as I could after giving your village free passage through my country alongside the Hot Water Daimyo. And the _reason_ I'm here is the same reason _you're_ here… to stop Jashin."

"To stop Jashin? But your own son worships him!" Tenten objected.

"As I've said… there is a lot to explain." Nodan reiterated as he started walking. "Now if you don't mind following me, I'll give you the full story. We don't have much time until the meeting. Not for what I plan to do here. Allow me to take you… to the _Holy Grail of Jashin_."

Not sure what else to do before the meeting, and knowing Nodan's Fire Style was a reliable source of heat and light, Jugo and Tenten decided to take Nodan up on his offer and followed him into the shack.

When Jugo and Tenten walked in to the hut behind Nodan, they noticed that the inside, while warmer than the cold night air outside, was still very dark and fairly chilly; Nodan's Fire Style was the only source of heat and light in the room. From that small light available, Jugo could spot two square wooden tables with a chair tucked in at each side of both in one half of the room, eight bed rolls laid down on the other side, and an empty weapons rack on the far wall.

"Hmm… now where could it be? …" Nodan thought aloud as he bent down and felt the floor with his left hand, holding his flame up high with his right so Jugo and Tenten could see. "You two Leaf ninja… do you mind helping me?"

"Help you with what?" Jugo asked.

"Help me feel for a tile in the floor that's lighter than the others. There should be a false tile in the floor hiding a basement. It leads to the position of the Holy Grail."

Jugo nodded and quickly got on his knees to feel the floor with both hands. Tenten, however, refused to budge:

"Excuse me, Nodan, sir, but why do I feel like _I've seen this place before?_ "

"You were involved with the Fourth Ninja World War, correct?"

"Yeah: I was in the First Division helping Captain Darui defend the Land of Lightning's coastline. What's it to you?"

"Regardless of division, you were made aware of the initial war plans for the Shinobi Alliance. That included the plan to protect the Daimyo in case Akatsuki tried to kidnap them to force Killer B and Naruto Uzumaki out of hiding. That's what matters." Nodan paused as he threw one of the bed rolls to the side to check on the tiles underneath it and found one that was lighter than the others. "Because the Daimyo were placed in houses similar to this one in my home country, the Land of Hot Water. Also … I found the false tile. Come here, the both of you."

"So that's it…" Tenten recalled Ino's and Shikamaru's fathers relaying the initial plan to all of the alliance, her included, as she walked closer to Nodan. Jugo also got up and approached him. "Wait… why is there a hut like those in the Land of Frost too?!"

"There are actually nineteen of these in total. Five in the Land of Frost, twelve in the Land of Hot Water, and one each in the Land of Fire and Land of Lightning. Combined with one more special place, there are a grand total of _twenty_ entrances to Jashinism's old meeting chamber, and from there a path to the Holy Grail opens up."

"What a coincidence…" Jugo remarked. "To think the Daimyo were right above the path to the Holy Grail the whole time…"

Nodan shook his head. "It wasn't a coincidence. The plan was _my idea._ I was hoping the Shinobi Alliance would find the Holy Grail during the war and agree to destroy it rather than fight over it like in previous wars… But alas, the Daimyo Protection Squad had their hands full fighting Zetsu's black half. I wanted to be there myself, but as Head Ninja of the Hidden Hot Water, it was my responsibility to evacuate my country's people and move them to the Hidden Leaf Village for the duration of the war."

"Black Zetsu…" Jugo recalled Sasuke talking with Orochimaru. "He was Jashin's accomplice in the murder of Kamina Uzumaki, and the one that arranged for his release from the Shinigami's dimension, manipulating ninja from the Leaf, Mist, Cloud, and Whirlpool villages to do it."

The revelation made Nodan twitch. "You're… you're sure about this?" he asked as he slowly stood up and turned around to face Jugo.

The Snake Sage nodded.

"I see… so that's what that passage meant. When Jashin claims in the second-to-last chapter of _The Way of Jashin_ that while his body was no longer part of the living world, his _will_ lingered and would conspire to revive him in a truly divine form when the time was right, _Black Zetsu_ was what he was referring to… It's no wonder Black Zetsu drew the fight with the Daimyo Protection Squad on just long enough for the real Madara Uchiha to be revived and force Lady Mizukage away from the battlefield, if that was the case… He was hiding the Holy Grail from the world by diverting the Shinobi Alliance's attention."

Tenten gasped. "So you… read _**The Way of Jashin?!**_ "

"Yes I did… That's how I know where the Holy Grail is. The book begins with an explanation about how to become a follower of Jashin's, including a map pointing out every possible starting point, aside from that one exception I alluded to earlier."

"Don't tell me… you sneaked into Hidan's room every night and read _your own son's_ copy!" Tenten shouted.

Nodan sighed. "How presumptuous… as to be expected from a Ninja I suppose, always assuming the worst from other Ninja… At any rate, it wasn't my son's copy; it was my father's. He gave it to me before he ordered the Purge, trusting me to study its contents so one day I could destroy the Holy Grail if Jashin returned as promised, to prevent him from spreading his corrupt religion across the whole world. I read my father's copy from cover to cover several times until I had the entire book's contents memorized. After that I burned it to ensure that no one else read it. Nonetheless… it's time to overcome Jashin's first trial."

At that moment, Nodan extinguished the flame in his right hand to make several hand seals, ending with Snake, and subsequently pressed both hands firmly on the false tile beneath him. He then pulled the tile up, severed it in two, and opened a hatch to an abyss below. "The first trial: the Trial of Earth."

Jugo raised an eyebrow. "Trial of Earth?"

"I'll elaborate as we descend to the basement."

Nodan removed his hands from the opened hatch on the floor and climbed down the ladder that he could feel touching the space below. Jugo followed after him, with Tenten at the rear.

"There are three trials to overcome in order to reach the Holy Grail: one requiring the use of Earth Style, one requiring Wind Style, and one requiring Water Style. These trials are there partially to keep intruders from finding the Holy Grail, but also to test if one is prepared to use the _Secret Battle Arts of Jashin_ , which are jutsu that combine Earth, Wind, and Water elements. Only someone skilled enough to use at least B-Rank jutsu with _all three required elements_ can overcome all the trials, for they're the only ones who have the talent for Blood Style, the element earned along with immortality when one drinks from the Holy Grail. When we reach the bottom, we'll be travelling down a long tunnel until we reach the Trial of Wind, blocking the Jashinists' meeting ground, and once we're in there, the Trial of Water is all that will be between us and the Holy Grail… That's where I'll need your help."

"Need _**our**_ help, Nodan? Why would you need _**our**_ help?!" Tenten replied.

"I… can't use Water Style well enough."

The confession shocked both Jugo and Tenten.

"Fire is my strongest element, and I'm capable of using Earth and Wind well enough to pass Jashin's tests, but Water… I could only use D-Rank jutsu with Water. Hidan… he's more skilled with Water Style than I am. That or he had some assistance. At any rate, while I can't pass the Trial of Water, the two of you _can._ "

"The _Bashosen…_ " Jugo inferred. "One who wields the Bashosen has access to _all five elements._ Tenten is the Bashosen's owner, and I have enough chakra to wield the weapon without tiring myself."

"That's why you searched us out rather than enter from the Land of Hot Water." Tenten added. "You needed us to complete the last trial!"

"You are correct."

Within seconds, Nodan made it to the bottom of the ladder. As soon as he did so he stepped away from the ladder and lit a fire once again. "We've reached the basement!" he shouted.

Jugo and Tenten soon made their way to the bottom as well, and followed Nodan as he lit the tunnel before them, walking in the one direction available. That would certainly lead them to the Trial of Wind.

"So how does finding the Holy Grail have anything to do with stopping Jashin?" Jugo asked.

"Or those Hidden Frost Ninja that tried to kill us?" Tenten also asked.

"One question at a time… let's start with stopping Jashin. As you both know, the Hokage asked the Frost Daimyo and Hidden Frost Village's Head Ninja for rights to hold a meeting with the Hidden Cloud in their country, and me and the Hot Water Daimyo for free passage through ours to get there, and all parties consented. The message claimed that Sasuke Uchiha discovered Jashin's weaknesses and was headed for the Land of Whirlpools to deal with him, while Killer B was attempting to rescue Karin Uzumaki from Jashin, who abducted her. But in case the worst happened, he sent two ninja to join forces with the Hidden Cloud to bring all five _Treasured Tools of the Six Paths_ together to use against Jashin instead: you two. Well… when I first read it, I assumed that your village managed to figure out the location of the Holy Grail by reading my son's mind, and you and the Hidden Cloud were conspiring to destroy it or seal it away with the _Treasured Tools_ together, with the mission being a legal excuse for entering the Land of Frost, the hiding place of the Holy Grail. I came here to _assist_ you in your endeavour."

"You were wrong about that!" Tenten shouted. "Kakashi-Sensei is a more honest man than that! He wouldn't lie about something so grave, especially not to freaking _Daimyo!_ Seems I'm not the _only_ one guilty of assuming the worst in other ninja. Hmph!"

"I… understand. And for that I must apologize. Nonetheless, while that might not be your intention, some others might believe otherwise and prepare for it. The Hidden Frost Village, to be specific."

"The Hidden Frost…" Jugo and Tenten spoke in unison as their jaws dropped.

"I suspect both of you have figured out why they tried to kill you back there. The Hidden Frost couldn't afford to reject the Hokage's proposal without arousing suspicion. So they went with the next best thing. Yes… the Hidden Frost Ninja have been tasked with keeping the Holy Grail safe from all outsiders. That mission is the reason the Hidden Frost Village exists in the first place. They are the _Keepers of the Holy Grail._ "

"No way…" Tenten said.

"I can't believe it either." Jugo added. "Karin and Hidden Frost Ninja were in the Hidden Leaf Village at the same time during the war, and unlike Hidan, the Frost Ninja weren't all underground. Karin would have sensed it if other Jashinists were in the village…"

"Only if they have Curse Energy. There are people who worship Jashin and choose _not_ to drink from the Holy Grail, to avoid being found out. Those people are the Hidden Frost; rather than just be the Land of Frost's military, the Hidden Frost's _true_ purpose is to keep the Jashinism religion alive until Jashin returns and forces the world into following him. That includes protecting the Holy Grail and overseeing the preservation and distribution of _The_ _Way of Jashin_ after the Purge. My son could have only made contact with _them_ to procure his own copy."

"So the Hidden Frost is like what the Hidden _Sound_ was…" Jugo said. "To the outside, just another small ninja village; but on the inside, a _criminal empire_ … It's no wonder Jashin could get away with hiding the Holy Grail in another country; that country's village was _in on it_ and _helping him hide it…_ "

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Tenten objected. "The Hidden Frost Village wasn't formed until after the First Ninja World War! Before then it didn't have ninja at all, and Jashin was sealed away before the First Hokage was even born! How did Jashin get away with it then?!"

"The Land of Frost didn't have ninja at the time, true… but it had _rogue_ _samurai_ _ **.**_ It was fairly commonplace for samurai during the Warring Clans Era to reject the neutralist philosophy of the Land of Iron and offer their services to other countries without ninja, for the proper fee. The Frost Daimyo is the richest man in the country. The logical conclusion is that the Frost Daimyo hired rogue samurai to be his personal Royal Guard, and those samurai were the _Keepers of the Holy Grail_ until the Hidden Frost Village came to be."

"The Daimyo's Royal Guard? But that means…" Jugo raised both his eyebrows at once in comprehension.

"Yes… the Frost Daimyo is _one of them_ , and their Chief Executive Officer, in fact. It's why the Frost Daimyo has a Hidden Frost forehead protector on their headdress; to show solidarity with and command over the Hidden Frost's true agenda. That's how it's always been, ever since the cult of Jashinism began over 120 years ago."

"You seem to know an awful lot about an era you weren't part of." Tenten remarked. "Even your father was younger than the First Hokage…"

Nodan's eyes narrowed. "That's where you're _wrong_. Father was there for the Warring Clans Era. He was one of Jashin's original followers… He'd be nearly 150 years old if he were still alive today."

"How is that possible?! Humans can't live for 150 years! Not even the Uzumaki live that long!"

"No, Tenten… there are ways to achieve it…" Jugo interjected. "Stealing younger bodies, for instance. Orochimaru's done it, and Jashin's done it too. If _everyone_ who drinks from the Grail is capable of it, then Judan could have lived long after his own body decomposed and became one with the planet."

Nodan nodded. "That's it, precisely… My father was on his third body when he battled and killed the First Hokage. And if my father didn't order the Purge, then _**I**_ would have been his _fourth_ body."

"That's horrible! Who the hell would steal _their own child's_ body?!" screamed Tenten.

"Jashin himself, for starters," Jugo pointed out. "The first body he stole was his son's."

"It's even encouraged in _The Way of Jashin_ as the Eighth Commandment." Nodan added. "It says, ' _Thou shalt prefer one's own children as targets of the Jashin Succession Technique'_. And indeed I wasn't the first child of his to offer his body. He was the father of his second body, and in that body became the father of his third. Father travelled from body to body, as did the current Frost Daimyo. In order to control the country and oversee the protection of the Holy Grail, one of the original followers stole the Frost Daimyo's body at the time of the cult's formation, and all Frost Daimyo since have been _the same man in different bodies._ The Frost Daimyo is among the original Jashinists, like Father was… and the only one that was spared by the Purge."

"Why… why was he spared?" Jugo asked. "What was Judan hoping for by leaving the Frost Daimyo alive?"

"My father wanted to keep the Holy Grail _hidden_ _._ He might have drunk from the Holy Grail, but Father never truly believed in Jashin; he wanted to bring _peace_ to the world by any means necessary. But he was very cynical in his approach… He'd seen all the hatred in the world and came to the conclusion that the world's hatred would never go away; it could only be _directed_. He became a follower of Jashin's for that purpose, to direct the entire world's hatred on _himself._ He wanted _desperately_ to become the _Greatest Monster in Ninja History_ , to become so completely evil that everyone would forget the trifles amongst themselves and unite to defeat him. He saw Jashin as a _devil_ rather than a god, and lived his life with the intent of being an even _greater_ devil than Jashin himself."

"That's why he killed the First Hokage? To bring the world _**closer together?!**_ " Tenten replied in horror.

"That was part of it, yes… Father was critical of Lord Hashirama's own approach to peace. He believed that forming the Hidden Villages didn't accomplish any _real_ change in the world. That if the _people_ didn't change along with the allegiances, then the conflict would only _increase in scale_ , not go away. That the wars would be _between villages_ rather than _between clans_ , and while the frequency of the wars would be reduced, they would hit harder than ever before. He came to see Madara Uchiha's defection and betrayal as evidence that Lord Hashirama's methods failed, and that the world needed to change even more drastically for peace to occur. So to sell himself to the world as the _Greatest Monster in Ninja History_ , as well as to punish Lord Hashirama for what he saw as a failure…"

"He killed the First Hokage." Jugo concluded.

"Yes… Father wanted the entire world to unite through their hatred of him, and murdered the First Hokage to _make_ the world hate him. But over the course of the war, he realized that his own plan was just as doomed to failure as Lord Hashirama's. Rather than come together to defeat him, the Five Great Shinobi Nations fought _each other_ in a race to steal the Holy Grail and take the techniques used to kill the First Hokage for themselves. That, along with fighting the Second Hokage and seeing the Hidden Cloud's persistent hatred of the Gold and Silver Brothers, made Father realize that no matter how many atrocities he committed, he couldn't possibly direct _all_ of the world's hatred on himself. He started a world war and perpetuated Jashin's religion for a cause he came to see as _pointless._ Thus he ordered the Purge to atone for what he had done, in the hopes that Blood Style and the Holy Grail would never again be used as tools of war…"

"So the Frost Daimyo was spared to prevent war from breaking out again." Jugo inferred. "If Fuso Uzumaki assassinated the Frost Daimyo as well, the world would have learned that the Holy Grail was in the Land of Frost and would go to war over the Grail all over again… And Judan knew the Frost Daimyo wouldn't dare use Blood Style in public, to keep up his image as a weak governor in need of protection from ninja…"

"Hold up… You said the Gold and Silver Brothers helped convince Judan he failed." Tenten interjected. "Do you know how they died? Captain Darui fought them during the war and I was nearby…"

"Yes I do… That was also Father. The Gold and Silver Brothers made a deal with Father during the First Ninja World War. They provided intelligence on the Hidden Cloud, and in exchange, they would drink from the Holy Grail when the war was over. Naturally, by the war's end Father went back on the deal and hired a rogue bounty hunter to assassinate the Gold and Silver Brothers to tie up loose ends. I only saw them once, when he came to collect the bounties the brothers' heads, and their stand-out feature was four white masks stitched to their back."

Tenten gasped. "No way… Kakuzu?! He had four masks on his back! That was your son's partner in Akatsuki! And you're saying he worked for Hidan's grandfather in the past … to _kill the Gold and Silver Brothers?!_ "

"Yes…" A faint smile formed on Nodan's lips. "Our side wasn't the only one in the war that forced long-time enemies to co-operate."

"So that's what happened…" Tenten said." Figures the Hidden Cloud didn't get back the four _Treasured Tools_ Kinkaku and Ginkaku stole after they died. Between his love of money and his client's wish for peace, Kakuzu probably _**sold them all**_ to the _highest civilian bidder_ _!_ "

"There's more that I can tell about myself, Jashinism, and the Hidden Frost Village, but you have enough to understand the basic situation now. I'm here to take the Holy Grail and present it to your meeting with the Hidden Cloud so you can destroy it, and ensure no one drinks from it ever again. The Hidden Frost are trying to keep that from happening by sending teams to every station in the country and trying to kill anyone that comes near. But before I continue, if you don't mind I would like to know more about the two of you. We'll be down here for hours before we reach the Trial of Wind."

"Sure… We've gone a long time without even introducing ourselves! My name is Tenten, Hidden Leaf Chunin, member of Team Guy, and proud owner of the Bashosen. Nice to meet you, Nodan!"

"My name is Jugo, Sage of Ryuchi Cave, member of Taka, and pseudo-Jinchuriki of Gyuki."

"Well met, Tenten, Jugo."

After receiving Jugo's and Tenten's introductions, Nodan continued leading the duo down the dark, underground corridor, where the Holy Grail of Jashin waited at the very end.


	58. Chapter 57: In Pursuit of the Holy Grail

"How… much… longer?"

Tenten's stamina was nearly reaching its limit, having walked without breaks for an indiscernible amount of time that felt like hours. Nodan was also showing signs of fatigue, no longer lighting the hallway with Fire Style and instead pressing his right hand on the tunnel's wall and using his sense of touch for guidance. Jugo was the only one present still mostly awake, and he slowed down to keep pace with the others.

"It shouldn't be much longer…" Nodan said. "The station we entered in was one of the closest, relatively speaking…"

 _Three trials? Just getting to the Trial of Wind is a trial in and of itself, between the complete darkness and just how long the path is… I suppose Jashin would have wanted to make sure there were no weaklings in his ranks, and this was his way of weeding them out…_ Jugo thought.

Tenten sighed. "We should have brought Soldier Pills… We wouldn't be in this mess right now if we ate some…"

"We were short on time as it was."

"Oh yeah… That's why we didn't bother looking for a top that fit you, Jugo… but what about _you_ , Nodan? You said you left after you responded to Kakashi-Sensei's letter, and you're a Head Ninja to boot. Why don't _you_ have Soldier Pills?"

"My village hasn't needed them for almost fifty years… Ever since the First Ninja World War and the Purge, Lord Daimyo decided he didn't want to involve his country in wars anymore. He ruled that the village would only accept D-Rank missions: ones that don't have the threat of enemy ninja, or the risk of encountering them outside the country. Every mission that was C-Rank or higher was outsourced to some other village from then on … like the mission to capture my son that was issued last week… But I digress… there was no need for Soldier Pills after that, so we sold all the ones we had to other villages."

"The entire village couldn't have been happy with that." Jugo objected. "Your country was home to Jashinism; even those who couldn't pass the trials must have worshiped Jashin."

"How do you think the _Hidden Frost_ was created?"

Jugo's jaw dropped. "The Frost Daimyo noticed the civil unrest in your village after the Purge and the call for demilitarization… and welcomed everyone who disagreed to form _their own village_ in his own country…"

"Precisely… The only parts that weren't disclosed to the public were that the separatists worshiped Jashin and that the Frost Daimyo was a follower…" Nodan slowly nodded as a tear began to form in his eye. "I suppose that, if Hidan was around then… maybe he wouldn't have had to suffer so much… He wouldn't have been alone in his worship… He would have become a Hidden Frost Ninja with all the other separatists…"

"You need to stop thinking about Hidan…" Tenten protested. "He was a monster that _enjoyed_ killing people. He doesn't deserve your love…"

"That's not the point… Love isn't handed out on a merit scale; it's a _necessity of life._ A life without love is simply not worth living. That goes double for those that can't die; a solitary immortal is doomed to _eternal suffering…_ with no means of escape. Hidan might be a monster, but he's still _my son._ As his father, it's my _duty_ to give him the love he needs when no one else can… To do otherwise would be a betrayal of _life itself._ "

"I guess so… Neji and Sasuke wouldn't have changed for the better if what you said isn't true…"

"Me too…" Jugo added. "I was a monster just like how you described, Tenten, before I met Kimimaro… and I would have become one again if Sasuke didn't send me to Ryuchi Cave for Sage training."

Suddenly, Jugo caught a glimpse of a light at the end of the tunnel. "That light…"

"The Trial of Wind is near!" Nodan shouted, the adrenaline overcoming his fatigue as he broke into a dash. Tenten and Jugo followed.

[X-X-X]

It took them only two minutes of running to reach the end of the tunnel. When they got there, however…

"It's… really windy in there!"

Tenten felt a breeze coming from inside the room. Furthermore, she could not see much beyond the doorway despite the presence of light, because wild and rapid gusts of wind blocked their path.

"How do we get inside?" Jugo asked. "I think I'm strong enough to brave the winds and walk my way through…"

"Not a chance! That wind is fiercer than when I fought Temari in the Chunin Exams! If you just walk in there, you'll be torn to shreds! Sliced and diced a thousand different ways in a matter of seconds!"

"If only Suigetsu were here… He could turn himself into water and nullify all the damage…"

At that moment, fatigue caught up to Nodan and he collapsed. He managed to sit up next to the wall in a slump and give Jugo and Tenten one last piece of advice before losing consciousness:

"It's obvious what you need to do… isn't it? It's the Trial of Wind… so _use_ wind to break through…"

"Okay… Tenten, the Bashosen."

The kunoichi nodded to Jugo's words, flipped up part of her weapons scroll - which was still wrapped around Jugo's torso – and tapped one segment of it. She then summoned the Bashosen in her hands and handed it to Jugo.

"Just think of a really strong Wind jutsu as you pump your chakra into the Bashosen and the weapon will take care of the rest! … zzz…"

It was then that Tenten too succumbed to her fatigue and passed out.

Holding the Bashosen in his right hand, Jugo carefully propped Tenten's unconscious body up to the wall so she was also sitting next to it. Then he turned to face the Trial of Wind ahead of him and readied the Bashosen:

"Thank you, Tenten… You too, Nodan… But it looks like I'll have to do the rest on my own. I'll wake you both up when I have the Grail…"

 _A really strong Wind Jutsu, huh… The only Wind Jutsu I've seen that qualifies… is that one… I hope this works…_

With those thoughts, Jugo imagined the jutsu he considered as he sent his chakra into Bashosen. The next moment, he saw what looked like a green shuriken with a spherical centre lying parallel to the Bashosen face-up, composed completely with Wind Style chakra. Seeing his plan was working, Jugo immediately stepped back with his left foot and held the Bashosen close to his chest with his right hand, preparing for a back-handed swing. He then sliced forward with the Bashosen, tilting his wrist during the swing so the fan went from parallel to the ground to perpendicular. This unleashed the shuriken of wind from the Bashosen, firing straight for the entrance to Jashinism's meeting hall and rotating in midair so it entered the room vertically. The shuriken of wind pierced through the gusts blocking the room and soon could no longer be seen. Moments later, the shuriken exploded in a spiral of wind, revolving in the opposite direction as most of the wind blocking the passage. The opposing winds cancelled each other out, and soon Jugo could no longer feel a breeze.

 _Wind Style: Rasen Shuriken. It's smaller than when I saw Naruto use it during the war, but his would have destroyed the foundation of the room inside… Thankfully I could make it weaker…_

Jugo walked through the doorway, stepping foot into a circular room with eighteen other similar doorways lining the walls. Light shone down from a high ceiling, and a well of water was at the very centre of the floor. He looked down into the well and began to think.

 _I suppose this is related to the Trial of Water… From the previous two tests, I assume the well is too deep for anyone to swim through without having to come up for air, unless you were part fish… Fish… Perhaps I could replicate something Kisame used to get through here. But I only ever saw Kisame fighting once, when Suigetsu tried to take Samehada as Sasuke was fighting Itachi, and Kisame was clearly holding back on him… Samehada… Killer B had it when Sasuke and I visited Turtle Island… Maybe Killer B fought Kisame to get it… In that case…_

Jugo stopped his thoughts to sit down and meditate, focusing his consciousness inward.

"Gyuki… I need your help."

" **What do you want, Jugo? …** **My bigger half died a few hours ago… I'm not really in the mood for co-operating…** "

"I just need you to tell me how Killer B acquired Samehada. You shared Killer B's memories up until the end of the war, so you know how he got Samehada."

" **Oh… is that all?** " Gyuki tilted his head down to look Jugo in the eyes. " **There's not much to it, really… Kisame Hoshigaki tried to capture B shortly after the Five Kage Summit, and Samehada really liked B's chakra, so despite losing to Kisame and needing the Fourth Raikage to bail him out, B befriended Samehada and kept it with him.** "

 _No wonder Suigetsu lost to Kisame so badly… he was strong enough to defeat an opponent that all four of us couldn't take down. If Sasuke manages to save him, Suigetsu sure has his hands full…_ Jugo thought.

"Anyway… Did Kisame use any jutsu that could help one swim to the bottom of a well? Like breathe under water?"

" **Actually… yes he did.** **After fusing with Samehada, Kisame surrounded himself in what looked like a giant Water Prison jutsu. But Kisame could breathe in that water while B couldn't… That was the most difficult part of that battle…** "

"Samehada… I don't have that on me; just the Bashosen and your chakra… and Sage Mode, given time. What did fusing with Samehada _do_ to Kisame? How did his appearance change? There's something I need to confirm…"

" **Well… I'm not too sure, but it seemed like Kisame became, for lack of a better word, _shark-like._** **Well, more shark-like than he usually was… He grew fins and his gill-like markings became _actual gills!_ And his usual blue skin turned _great white!_** "

"So Kisame fused with Samehada to become like a shark, or in other words, an _animal_."

Jugo suddenly grinned.

" **What are you smiling about? The only things that make you perk up are making friends with animals and this Tenten girl…** "

"I thought the Ninja World only knew about seven Senjutsu schools… I was wrong. It's known about eight. Snake, Toad, Slug, Monkey, Cat, Dog, Turtle… and _Shark._ "

" **You mean fusing with Samehada is how one activates _Shark Sage Mode?!_** "

"It makes sense. How Samehada can sense chakra. How fusing with it makes you more like a shark… Samehada being an outlet for natural energy used in Sage Mode explains both those things. And if Kisame could breathe under water because of a _Sage Mode…_ so can I. Some species of snake are _amphibious_ , after all… Thank you."

With those words, Jugo snapped back to consciousness and became utterly still, gathering as much natural energy as he could.

Jugo was aware of the fact that he was unable to gather natural energy quickly enough to be used in battle, but he could still gather some to speed up his body's natural gathering process. It would have taken several more hours at least for his Sage Mode to activate on its own, but Jugo was able to speed this up to several minutes by manually gathering some as well. In due time, purple markings covered his eyes once more and his arms turned white and scaly. The hump on his back which he usually transformed into wings was instead morphed by Jugo into a fin, and he erected fins on each arm as well. To finalize his transformation, he altered his feet so that they were webbed, to better enable swimming.

"All I need to do now is infuse the Bashosen with Sage chakra and put myself in a Water Prison, and my _Sea Dragon Sage Mode_ transformation will be complete."

Jugo stood up, Bashosen still in his right hand. When he was on his feet, he conjured a small sphere of water and placed his head inside the ball. He was content to find the ball remained stuck to his head, and he could breathe in and out of it. Once finished, he placed the Bashosen and Tenten's weapon scroll on the ground next to him to avoid them getting wet, and dove head-first into the water.

The swim utterly surprised him in two ways; one pleasantly, and one not so pleasantly. The first was that getting to the bottom of the water took far less time than he thought, less than a minute. Unfortunately, the swim was also much, much colder than anticipated. Jugo also finished swimming only to find that the water ended before the well did, and he fell a significant distance once again. This time, however, he managed to save himself by turning his back fin into wings and gliding his way to the floor.

"Brrr… It's freezing…"

Jugo's teeth were chattering. He was overcome with cold once more, and everything that could have saved him - Fire Style from Nodan or the Bashosen, Tenten's weapon scroll, and Tenten herself - were all at the top of the well. He looked around in desperation and found that there was a ladder right behind him, leading up the well. He considered climbing back up and swimming through the water again to fetch the Bashosen and coming back, but decided that swimming through the intensely cold water only twice was favourable to doing it four times.

 _I guess I was supposed to use Water Style to empty the well instead of swim through it…_

Jugo looked around once more, struggling to fight the cold and the mounting fatigue from hours of walking compounded with using the Bashosen twice in rapid succession.

 _But regardless… I've passed the Trial of Water. The Holy Grail should be here somewhere…_

Jugo carefully examined the room. It was only marginally larger than the shack he followed Nodan into with Tenten, and octagonal in shape, the well at the centre of the ceiling. Each wall had a pedestal akin to an altar next to it, and all eight pedestals had a large, golden goblet on display, filled with a red liquid. There was also mold growing on most of the walls, showing its age and scarcity of use. The first thought that came to Jugo's mind was that the real Holy Grail was placed alongside several fakes to fool potential robbers.

It was then that Jugo observed the second most glaring feature of the room, next to the ceiling well:

 _That's odd… seven of the walls are moldy, but one of the walls is clean. Yet all eight goblets have mold on them… There's no way to tell the goblets apart to see which one is the real Grail and which ones are fakes. One could use the lone clean wall as a clue to which Grail is genuine, and pick up that wall's Grail, but that's an obvious trap, so there's no way that Grail is the real one… But then again, if it's such an obvious trap, only someone incredibly stupid would choose it, so maybe Jashin deliberately placed the real one in the one place it's more likely to be fake… Argh…_

Jugo struggled to deduce which Holy Grail was real, at a loss as to how to continue.

 _Sasuke… If you were here, you'd have figured this out already… But you're not here; I have to do this myself. Still, if Sasuke were here, I'm sure he'd put off examining the Grails until he understood why that lone wall is clean while all the others are covered in mold… What would Jashin have to gain by keeping that one wall clean? … Wait. Does Jashin have anything to gain at all? One clean wall is a clue to which grail is real, and Jashin wouldn't want a clue to exist in the first place… So maybe this wall is clean because Jashin was **forced** to keep it clean. But what could force Jashin to leave this clue behind? … That might be it… The Holy Grail **itself** might be the cause… Nodan told Tenten and me during the walk through the tunnel that the Holy Grail contains the blood from Jashin's original body, and somehow that blood's been preserved well enough for Hidan to receive its power over a century later. And if that blood is being preserved in such a way, it's only logical that the blood's **container** is also preserved like it, pristine to this day… But if that's true, and the wall is clean because of the Holy Grail's preservation, then…_

Jugo came to an epiphany in the middle of his contemplating, walked up to the one clean wall while ignoring the goblet, and punched the wall as hard he could with both fists at once. The wall was torn apart, the remains he punched off flying several feet before smashing into another wall a short distance away.

 _As I thought… the real Grail isn't with them; they were **all** fake, because the real Grail is **behind** the one clean wall, being 'cleaned' the same way!_

Jugo proceeded to run into the next room, the Holy Grail's true resting place. As soon as he dashed inside, however, he noticed the wall fragments he punched out disappeared. Shocked, Jugo looked back on instinct and found the wall he just punched away was intact, as if he had never punched the wall to begin with.

 _I see… Jashin was a member of the Uzumaki clan, so he was a master of Sealing Jutsu… He used that when creating this room, using a seal imbued with Space-Time Manipulation to rewind time. That's what allowed the Holy Grail's contents to remain fresh for so many years; it was sealed **within the span of time it was fresh** **,** unable to grow dry or decompose unless it left this room… But such a powerful jutsu was something Jashin probably couldn't use precisely enough to seal just the Grail, so he had no choice but to seal the whole room to get the job done…_

Jugo then shook his head and focused on the room for any signs of what he was looking for. Unfortunately, despite the discovery Jugo made regarding how the Holy Grail was preserved, he found that the room itself was, at this moment, completely empty.

 _No… The Holy Grail is **gone!**_

Jugo sighed as he turned back around and ripped open the wall he just destroyed and saw rebuild itself, careful not to damage the fake Grails so he wouldn't trigger any traps on his way out. Then he ran over to the ladder in the centre of the octagonal room and began making his way back up.

 _Nodan's worst fears have come to pass… I need to wake him and Tenten up and let them know… But where is the Holy Grail now?_

As Jugo swam up the Trial of Water and reached Jashinism's meeting place again, another thought dominated his mind:

 _Wait… These chakras up above… They're familiar… and him. Why is **he** here?!_

[X-X-X]

Approximately one hour earlier…

"Almost dawn… we're behind schedule!" A shouted as his team of Hidden Cloud Ninja passed the Land of Lightning's border into the Land of Frost, Kohaku No Johei strapped to his back. "We'll be late for the rendezvous with the Hidden Leaf at this rate! How are we supposed to meet up with them by **_NOON_** at the pace we're going?!"

"Sorry, Boss…" Darui said.

A leaned right up to Darui's face. "What are you calling me **_Boss_** for, Darui?! You're **_the Raikage_** , Dammit! I'm **_your_** right arm now! From this moment on, I'm calling _you_ 'Boss', **_Boss!_** "

"Sorry…" Darui shrugged as he looked down, continuing their walk. "I've only been Raikage for a couple weeks now. I'm still getting used to it, man…"

"As long as Lord A remains in the village you're not going to feel like the one in charge." C remarked, holding the Shichiseiken in one hand while the Kokinjo was wrapped around his torso, coming down from his right shoulder to the left of his waist. "Perhaps you should move to the Hidden Leaf, Lord A? That way the young Uchiha won't have to leave home to train with you if he decides to take you up on your offer."

"If we all get through this unscathed, I just might." A smirked and stroked his beard. "It'll give you some room to grow into your position too, in any event."

"The Hidden Leaf, huh…" the fourth member of their team sighed as he walked, cuffed from behind and led by Darui. "Over fourteen years ago, Father faked allegiance with the Hidden Leaf to try kidnapping the Hyuga clan's heiress, and now you're thinking of just casually moving in? I'm… impressed. The world's changed so much… And I was about to ruin all of that…"

"Don't be so down on yourself, Fuzai." Darui said. "You've got a chance to turn it all around. You're the only one in the village, except for maybe Bo- _A_ over here who can use the _Treasured Tools of the Six Paths_ , since you bathed at Two Lights Valley. If … If Sasuke fails, then it'll be on you and Jugo to save the world from Jashin. That's why you're here with us."

Fuzai smiled from the reassurance. "Thanks a lot, Darui… You're a very good friend… though I'd rather it not come to that."

"That goes for all of us." A added. "Now how about we speed up so we reach our rendezvous point **_on time?!_** You remembered to pack Soldier Pills, C?"

"Yes, sir."

C searched his back pouch with his free hand, but before he could pull four Soldier Pills out, he sensed something approaching that caught his attention.

Something evil.

"Let's stop, everyone!"

Everyone did as C suggested and looked his way, wondering why he stopped so suddenly.

"Something sinister is coming closer, about 100 metres south of us. I can't tell if it means any ill will towards us in particular, but whatever it is, it feels even _worse_ than Sasuke Uchiha at the Five Kage Summit, or the Eight-Tails at its angriest… We need to be careful."

Darui released Fuzai from his cuffs, drew his Cleaver Sword, and focused his attention south. "Thanks for the heads-up, C. We can't turn our backs to this thing, whatever it is… Let's wait for it to come for us."

"I really don't like waiting, but whatever you say, _Boss…_ " A grumbled as he raised his arm, readying a Lariat in case he needed to use one.

Everyone waited several minutes, and eventually the source of the evil chakra C sensed revealed itself: a carriage with the Hidden Frost insignia on it.

"Isn't that the Frost Daimyo's carriage?" Fuzai asked. "It looks like a description of the Sound Daimyo's carriage Lord Orochimaru told me about once."

"Yes… we all saw the schematic when we made the initial plans for the war," A said. "Except you, of course."

Moments later, the Frost Daimyo himself emerged from the carriage, surrounded by four Hidden Frost ninja, and approached the team of Cloud Ninja.

 _What is this … The **Frost Daimyo** is the source of this evil chakra? That can't be right… How could a Daimyo possess such a powerful and malicious chakra anyway? _C thought.

"Why hello there, Supreme Commander A, Captain Darui, other people… I must congratulate the Shinobi Alliance for their _wonderful_ job protecting me and the other Daimyo during the war." the Frost Daimyo applauded, unnerving everyone present. Darui sheathed his Cleaver Sword and A relaxed his arm. "You deserve a prize, Supreme Commander! Allow me to show you all the way to my palace, where the prize awaits!"

"Not so fast, Daimyo," A objected. "We have a very important meeting with the Hidden Leaf to attend to, and we'll be late if we go on any detours. You can wait until after we've met with the Hidden Leaf and resolved the Jashin crisis… You should _already know this;_ you were sent a letter from the Hokage just as we were. You even sent **_us_** a letter giving your consent to come here!"

"Oh yes, I know all about that letter. I don't believe a _word_ of it. Since when has the Hidden Leaf ever put its trust in the Hidden Cloud, aside from that _one time_ when Akatsuki was after Jinchuriki from both villages? Why would they have any _reason_ to trust you after everything you did to hurt them? It was _your_ village that tried to kidnap the Leaf's Jinchuriki before Akatsuki was even heard of… Then you destroyed the Hidden Whirlpool Village, the Leaf's closest allies up to that point… And need I remind you of the time you tried to kidnap the Hyuga clan heiress as well, and the poor girl's uncle was sacrificed just to keep you from resuming the war?"

A looked away in shame. "That's… all in the past…"

"Is it?"

A's face went cold with silence at the Frost Daimyo's question.

"People still suffer _to this day_ because of things you're responsible for, and they have yet to see you suffer in turn." The Frost Daimyo continued. "Besides, you've spent most of your life assuming the worst in others, including your own _brother…_ To have others assume the worst of _you_ is only a natural consequence of your own paranoia, no?"

"You know an awful lot about a village from another country, when you're not even a ninja yourself." C interjected.

"What can I say? Us Daimyo got bored being holed up in those bases and started gossiping. Besides, I am a Daimyo. My _job_ is to ensure that the villages, be it from my country or otherwise, get the missions they need to sustain themselves. The relationship between Daimyo and ninja has always been symbiotic, ever since the Hidden Villages were formed; the Daimyo hand missions out to ninja so they can make a living, and in response ninja protect Daimyo with their lives. To uphold that structure, I need to know _everything_ that could possibly impact my country, and the Land of Lightning is among our next door neighbours; what you do impacts us just by being nearby. I wouldn't be doing my job properly if I _wasn't_ informed of your village's history, especially if I remained ignorant of its worst qualities. I mean come on, have you even once thought about what us Daimyo even do for you ninja?!"

"I… haven't. I apologize for my ignorance. Though I am still curious as to why you approached us rather than the Hidden Leaf, if we're the ones less trustworthy to you."

"C brings up a good point, old man." Darui added. "If anything, you should be conspiring with the Hidden Leaf to destroy us rather than the other way around."

"The Hidden Leaf sent the letter, so they're the ones up to no good. I bet I know what they're planning, too… They must have learned the _Holy Grail of Jashin_ 's location by reading Hidan's mind. They're going to steal immortality for themselves, robbing it from the rest of the world! That's why the meeting is _here,_ in the Land of Frost; it was hidden away in this country before Frost ninja found it recently and secured it within my palace. That's the prize I was referring to earlier; your village can have the _Holy Grail of Jashin_ , and lock it away behind Two Lights Valley so no one may use its terrible power ever again."

A broke his silence. "The _Holy Grail of Jashin?_ That's what the Gold and Silver Brothers defected from our village trying to find…"

"They weren't the only ones from your village obsessed with finding it, were they, _Supreme Commander?_ "

The Frost Daimyo then pointed at A directly.

Everyone glanced his way in horror, and all A could do in response to the stares was slowly drop to his knees and look down to avoid the eye contact:

"You're… You're right… I, and my father before me, wanted to find the Holy Grail and lock it behind Two Lights Valley, to prevent anyone from ever defecting from our village in pursuit of it like the Gold and Silver Brothers did. That was the reason behind Kushina Uzumaki's kidnapping, Hinata Hyuga's kidnapping, and the Hidden Whirlpool Village's destruction… It was all to find the Holy Grail and seal it away."

" _Hinata Hyuga_ 's kidnapping?" Fuzai walked over to A and pulled his head up to meet his eyes. Fuzai noticed A was crying, but the scene only fazed him for a brief moment before he pulled himself together and stared back down. "You mean my parents **_died_** because of some stupid **_cup?!_** "

A bowed before Fuzai, unable to think of any other gesture to suit his feelings. "I'm sorry, Fuzai! I truly am! Punish me in any way you see fit… I deserve whatever you do to me…"

"What nonsense." Fuzai turned his back to A and crossed his arms in disgust. "Seeing you in such a disgraceful position is plain _unsightly._ You were a _Raikage;_ stand tall and act like it!"

A wiped his tears away and stood up. "… Thank you, Fuzai… I'm sure Uchiha would have said much the same thing if he observed me just now… Nonetheless, you have a right to know what led to your parents' deaths. All of it."

"That goes without saying."

"It started with Kushina Uzumaki moving to the Hidden Leaf. We believed that Kushina must have been a descendant of Mito Uzumaki's for her to be chosen as the Nine-Tails' second Jinchuriki, and so we thought she was a member of the Kagura Dynasty… the branch of the Uzumaki clan that Uchiha's sensor is from."

"Karin's family, then…"

"Yes… At any rate, we waited just long enough for Mito to die getting the Nine-Tails extracted, but not long enough for Kushina to develop her sensing abilities. Then we kidnapped her… Father had hoped to use the unrivalled sensing abilities of the Kagura Dynasty that Fuso Uzumaki used to purge Jashinism to find the Holy Grail, but Father's plan was thwarted by a young Minato Namikaze, the man who would become Fourth Hokage. But even before that, we learned our plan was flawed from the start; Kushina was not a member of the Kagura Dynasty. She had a photo of her and her older brother along with another girl on her person with a message on the back, addressed _to_ Kushina _from_ Big Bro Kagemaru and Kagura the Second. Kagura the Second was the name of the other girl in the photo, so the member of the Kagura Dynasty we were looking for was _still in the Hidden Whirlpool Village._ "

"So you destroyed the Hidden Whirlpool Village to _lure Kagura the Second out of hiding._ "

"Yes… Kagura the Second was supposed to go to the Hidden Leaf for refuge before we attacked one day before we announced we would. The six days of grace we gave allowed your father time to infiltrate the Hidden Leaf disguised as a civilian, ready to abduct Kagura the Second once she moved. But for some reason Kagura the Second never made it there; your father came back to us empty-handed. We assumed the worst and that she was killed by whatever threw Yugito's second Bijuudama back at her… But that didn't stop us. We believed that the Kagura Dynasty had died out, but that one power still existed out there that could substitute for it."

"The Byakugan. With no member of the Kagura Dynasty available, you went for the next best thing… eyes that can see over a kilometre away from nearly any direction."

"That's not the only power the Byakugan has." C interjected. "Certain members of the Hyuga clan have Byakugan capable of seeing in so much detail that they can see individual chakra points, or Tenketsu. Such detail is a prerequisite for lie detection… something that Karin can do but I cannot."

"We thought that Hinata Hyuga, the one who was meant to lead the clan in the future, had Byakugan that could do so." A explained. "And so your father was sent on the last mission of his life… All because of my own greed and distrust…"

Fuzai shook his head. "That's not completely true… it couldn't have been all you. If you were that obsessed with finding the Holy Grail, then you would have killed all of Taka when they were cuffed at your feet, and made sure Karin couldn't leave the village until she met your demands. But you let her and everyone go to prove their innocence… Something else has to be behind your actions."

"Fuzai's right!" Darui added, approaching A and Fuzai. "Both attempted kidnappings, and the destruction of the Hidden Whirlpool Village, were missions _given to us._ There were one to three clients responsible for ordering all those things to happen!"

"That doesn't excuse my actions, or Father's, _Boss…_ " A objected. "A village has _no legal obligation_ to carry out a mission from _an anonymous client_ , and all three missions' clients were anonymous. I had the _choice_ to follow through on Hinata Hyuga's kidnapping… and I chose to comply."

"With all due respect, sir, that contradicts nothing I said." Fuzai objected back as he walked over to Darui and motioned to be put in handcuffs. "You've just confirmed _someone else_ is out there that wanted the Holy Grail found, who _ordered_ the mission leading to my father's death. You're guilty for sure… you're just not the _only_ guilty party. I know what being in that situation is like first-hand."

"So what are you going to do now, _Supreme Commander?_ " the Frost Daimyo asked, walking back to his carriage alongside his bodyguards. "I know my own forces have no way of forcing you; you and the new Raikage alone could probably defeat the entire Hidden Frost at once… The decision is _all yours_ this time."

"Don't worry… we'll go along to your palace and collect the Holy Grail…" A then turned to face Darui. "If it's okay with the Raikage."

Darui cuffed Fuzai once more. "We'll go, but on one condition. Once we've taken the Holy Grail off your hands, we'll meet with the Hidden Leaf to discuss what happens to it. I think they'll accept us being a bit late if we have a good reason like this. Sorry about your plans, Lord Daimyo, but I'm not about to let a half-century long grudge dictate how I run my ninja. That and I happen to trust the Hokage, as well as Sasuke Uchiha. You might not believe what's written in that letter, but I do."

"It's settled then!" the Frost Daimyo said as he made his way inside his carriage. "You can't see it because of the trees, but my palace is only an hour away! Follow along now, chop chop!"

The Cloud Ninja did as the Frost Daimyo commanded, but all four were apprehensive in their own ways:

 _There's no mistaking it… the Frost Daimyo is the source of the evil I sensed earlier, but it seems like he's only directing that evil toward the Hidden Leaf… If only I could detect his lies… then I'd know for sure if we can trust him…_ C thought.

 _For someone who openly stated how much they distrust the Hidden Leaf, Lord Daimyo seems fine with just letting us take the Holy Grail right to their ninja… Something's off about that man…_ Darui thought.

 _Even for a Daimyo, this man knows too much about our country's history… and just happening to find the Holy Grail at such a convenient time is hardly believable… I know I doubt others too much for my own good, and it's not like he has any real power at his disposal, but I can't help but think the Frost Daimyo is hiding something from us…_ A thought.

 _Father couldn't have been expected to come out of his mission alive, knowing what he was up against… He was the best man for the job, but it was still a suicide mission even for him. As Sasuke said, he messed with the wrong clan… but someone ordered him to do it anyway, and not just Lord A. Father, and Lady Hinata's uncle, were **murdered,** but not by the Hidden Leaf or the Hidden Cloud… by whoever Father's client was, and my gut's telling me Lord Daimyo knows who it is, if only because his behaviour right now is reminding me of Lord Orochimaru…_ Fuzai thought.

Despite all their anxiety, however, none of them were quite prepared for what awaited them inside the Frost Daimyo's Palace…


	59. Chapter 58: Power of a King

The Hidden Cloud ninja followed the Frost Daimyo's carriage in a dread-filled silence for several minutes before one ninja spoke up:

"Lord A, catch!"

C threw Shichiseiken straight for A's head. Darui and Fuzai, who were standing in between the others, ducked on reflex. A turned to face the sword coming his way and caught it by the hilt with his only hand. A stared C down in bewildered rage:

"What's the matter with you, C?! You could have killed m-"

Suddenly, A saw a flash of light coming from C's hands and found Darui and Fuzai disappear before him. The entire space was then covered in darkness. That gave away C's intentions, and A's mood changed quickly from confused rage to plain confusion. "A genjutsu, C? You have something to say without risking the Daimyo overhearing it, I presume?"

"Yes, sir. Why did you accept Lord Daimyo's proposal? Certainly you don't trust him any more than we do…"

"It's _because_ I don't trust him that I had to accept. It's possible that the Frost Daimyo doesn't really have the Grail and is luring us into a trap, sure, but what if he _does_ have the Grail? What then? If the Frost Daimyo _does_ have the Holy Grail and we refuse the opportunity to take it away from him, then he's free to do _whatever he wants_ with it, including make the entire Hidden Frost Village drink from it."

"Then the Hidden Frost would become an army of immortal soldiers…"

"Immortal soldiers with the power to _make anything with their blood on it_ _ **disappear!**_ With that kind of an army at the Frost Daimyo's disposal, he'd be able to take over the world more or less _unopposed…_ You know how my father met his end?"

"Obviously. He spent three whole days and nights taking down ten thousand enemy ninja. He exhausted himself to death, but he managed to take everyone else down with him. Why?"

"Imagine Father taking on that same army, but the army couldn't be killed and he'd lose any body part that made contact with an enemy's blood."

C was horrified at the image, doubling back in fear.

"To make things even worse, in a _master's_ hands, they'd have the destructive power of that old fence-sitter's Particle Style, with the versatility of the young Kazekage's sand."

C looked down in terror. "I understand why we had so much trouble against the Hidden Hot Water Village during the First Ninja World War now… If their Head Ninja didn't call for an armistice after his battle with the Second Hokage…"

"It's scary to think of just how much _power_ that one man had over the entire world… The world was _completely at his mercy_ for that brief period of time. I know from experience just how powerful Madara Uchiha was, but I doubt even he would have stood a chance…"

"If he was so powerful, then why didn't Kabuto Yakushi revive him for the Fourth Ninja World War?"

"Maybe he couldn't. He was unable to revive Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin, so it's possible there were other powerful ninja he wanted to revive but couldn't…"

"At any rate… it's about time for this jutsu to end." C made a few hand seals, "Thank you for helping me understand your decision. I'll inform Darui and Fuzai of this through genjutsu as well."

A's vision was then engulfed by another flash of light from C's hands. When the light faded, he was back in the real world, to the right of Darui and Fuzai as he was before, the latter two motionless and looking C in the eyes. It was clear to A that C put them under the same genjutsu to inform them of A's motives without risking the Frost Daimyo overhearing them.

Unfortunately, that effort would be for naught.

"What's the hold up, Cloud ninja?!" the Frost Daimyo shouted from inside his carriage, alerting A – and only A - forward. "I can't hear your footsteps anymore! You won't know the way to my palace if you lose sight of this decrepit old carriage!"

In response to the screeching voice, A swiftly knocked Darui, Fuzai, and C upside the head with the bottom knob of the Shichiseiken to break them free from the genjutsu and picked up the pace. The other three followed suit.

 _The Frost Daimyo could tell we were slowing down from inside his carriage? He must have much better hearing than we gave him credit for. That, or…_ A thought as he continued following the carriage with the others in tow, now unable to communicate their anxieties…

[X-X-X]

As the Frost Daimyo claimed, his palace was only one hour south of where he and the Hidden Cloud ninja met up. The reason they were unable to see it, as the Cloud ninja noticed, was because the exterior was painted brown and green with various white splotches all over. It blended in with the surrounding trees, which were covered in snow.

Four Frost ninja surrounding the Daimyo's carriage ran from their positions to two large double doors also painted with camouflage in mind. They worked together to open both of them, two ninja pulling each door so the Daimyo's carriage was just small enough to fit through the entryway.

"Camouflaging a _castle_ of all things, Lord Daimyo?" Darui asked.

"Camouflage comes with a resistance to invasion. The life of a Daimyo is very important, so I have to take any precaution I can to protect myself… If you were in _my_ shoes you would do the same thing." the Frost Daimyo explained as his carriage entered the palace.

 _Danzo said something similar at the Five Kage Summit… And look where that cowardly, self-important attitude got him. Uchiha may have done many terrible things, but he did the Hidden Leaf a lot of good getting rid of Danzo for them… Honestly, if Uchiha didn't kill Danzo when he did, I might have just done it myself!_ A thought.

The Cloud team followed the Daimyo's carriage inside. "Our country's Daimyo would disagree. _His_ palace stands out like a sore thumb." Darui said.

"He should learn from my example, then! If the ninja assigned to be his bodyguards fail him one day and he gets assassinated, he'll only have his own poor choice of decoration to blame!"

With the end of the Daimyo's rant, everyone found their way inside. The northern entrance to the Daimyo's palace led to a massive hallway that branched out in three directions from where they were standing, and the one directly across from them had another large pair of double doors. A assumed that was the southern entrance to the palace. The two other branches were to the left and right at right angles, but A couldn't see where they led to. Not that A was concerned about the ends of those paths at the moment; two other things caught his immediate attention. The first was that there was a window on the floor where the paths diverged. The second was…

"Everything's painted dark red!"

Upon shouting, A looked around himself to see the other Cloud ninja trying to adjust their eyes to the stark contrast between the outside paint job and the inside one.

"That's to disorient intruders, naturally…" said the Frost Daimyo as he stepped out of his carriage with his back to the Cloud ninja, a team of Frost ninja surrounding him. "If someone manages to see through my camouflage and break in, they'll be busy adjusting their vision, giving my bodyguards the chance to take them out before I come upon any danger."

"Another way of protecting yourself, then…" C inferred.

"Yes… Now if you would be patient and wait for me to retrieve the Holy Grail of Jashin from my quarters upstairs…"

The Frost Daimyo walked away from the group along with his bodyguards. "Remember whose responsibility it is should something happen if you turn back now…" he added as he turned left and out of the Hidden Cloud's sight, leaving them completely unsupervised.

Darui raised an eyebrow. "Did the Frost Daimyo just _threaten_ us?"

"That's what it sounds like." A said. "I fear a fight's going to break out as soon as the Daimyo returns… You should release Fuzai from his cuffs for better mobility on both your ends."

"But then the Frost Daimyo will know right away we think he's going to attack." Fuzai objected. "It's better if I remain cuffed. Then he won't suspect us. He'll think he has the upper hand if he attacks us anyway, and we can use that to our advantage. Besides, he seems to think you're more than a match than just his entourage… which would be true if you weren't tired right now."

"You're right… I'm faster than anyone in this country, even with Kohaku no Johei and Shichiseiken weighing me down." A smirked. "And the Daimyo isn't as likely to notice if just one of our Soldier Pills went missing… C, quickly!"

On command, C took a Soldier Pill from his back pouch and threw it squarely in to A's mouth. A swallowed it whole.

C suddenly looked down after throwing A the Soldier Pill. "That's strange…"

"What is?" Darui asked.

C walked toward the window at the centre. "I can sense some chakra under us. Three people…"

"Who are they, C?"

"I can't recognize one of them, but I can tell another belongs to Lord Nodan, Head Ninja of the Hidden Hot Water Village. As for the third… I haven't sensed it before, but I'm sure that it belongs to Jugo of the Scales, since I can sense a mixture of his and the Eight-Tails' chakra in them."

"That unknown chakra must belong to Tenten, then…"

A shook in anger. "Then the letter was true all along… And the Frost Daimyo _knew that from the start_ , if the Leaf team is in his _**basement**_ as we speak! Oh, do I have some _**words**_ for him…"

"What _**words**_ would those be, Mr. Former Raikage?" a voice called out from the left hall.

The Frost Daimyo had overheard A's outburst and came back as quickly as a Daimyo could be expected to with an entourage of Hidden Frost bodyguards. He also held a large golden goblet filled to the brim with a dark red liquid in both hands. All the Cloud ninja were struck with panic.

"Whatever those words are, the _Holy Grail of Jashin_ is yours! Please keep it safe from anyone who may abuse its power for themselves!"

Nervous, but still careful not to betray their anticipations, C slowly walked up to the Frost Daimyo and stretched out both his hands, being the only one able to carry the Holy Grail; Fuzai was in handcuffs, Darui was holding Fuzai, and A was holding Shichiseiken. Despite his every fear, however, the Frost Daimyo gently placed the Holy Grail of Jashin in C's hands and waved him goodbye.

"Any last words?" the Frost Daimyo asked.

Blue lighting chakra burst out from every pore of A's body and his hair stood on end.

"Yeah… what is this _**farce?!**_ You claim that the Hidden Leaf would dare try to steal the Holy Grail for themselves, yet C sensed their chakra right under us! What are they doing in your _**basement**_ , and how can we trust the Holy Grail C has in his hands isn't a _**fake?!**_ "

The Frost Daimyo waved his hands frantically in the air. "Settle down, you wild bull… let me explain! The Holy Grail of Jashin was hidden _underneath my palace._ That Nodan… I bet he knew all along and was just biding his time to make his move. He must have conspired with the Leaf team! He'd show them the path to the Holy Grail, while Tenten and Jugo would use the Bashosen to get past the traps. Thank the Lord I anticipated their movements and moved the Holy Grail of Jashin upstairs! Otherwise a Snake Sage and a pseudo-Jinchuriki would have gained immortality and the use of Blood Style on top of that! Who knows what that _**savage**_ would do with all that power at his command?! I wouldn't be surprised if a few Frost ninja have been killed on the way to get it!"

"So how can we tell if this Holy Grail isn't a fake?" C asked, staring into the crimson abyss contained in the cup.

"That's easy… All you need to do is _drink from it_. If you drink, then in thirteen days you'll be immortal. Try to stab yourself in the heart then, and I guarantee you won't die. It's that simple."

C gulped some air, his hands and head sweating from nerves.

"I understand why you're afraid. If the people learn that you drank from the Holy Grail of Jashin, they'll accuse you of being a Jashinist and someone will end up hiring the last member of the Kagura Dynasty to _exterminate_ you out of fear…"

"It's too risky, C!" Darui shouted. "That liquid might be poisoned! Let's just take it whether it's fake or not! We can take it up with Lord Nodan; if he knew where the Holy Grail was, then he should know what it looks like and how to tell it apart from any replicas!"

After a second of hesitation, C pulled away from the Frost Daimyo with the Holy Grail without drinking from it. "… The Raikage's right. Genuine or fake, we'll take the Grail downstairs with us and meet with the Leaf team there. I believe our meeting's over."

"Not yet!" A objected. "Even if this one is fake, you might still have the _**real**_ one hidden somewhere in this castle! I demand that we remain here until we've confirmed that the genuine article isn't in the building!"

"That won't be necessary," said the Frost Daimyo as he approached C once more, leaving the protection of his bodyguards. "I'll prove this Holy Grail of Jashin is genuine right now. If you will not drink from it, then _**I**_ will!"

" _ **I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT!**_ "

A launched himself forward at a speed too fast for anyone in the palace to follow. When everyone could see A again, he was behind the Frost Daimyo and his arm was stretched out as if it completed a Lariat, with specs of blood on his right arm and the Frost Daimyo's head lying on the floor some distance away from his body.

The Frost ninja shivered in unison at A's attack. "You just… beheaded Lord Daimyo!" one of them said.

"If you don't want to be _**next**_ , I'd suggest you help me dispose of the body!" A replied.

Tears began to form in Darui's eyes. "Bo- A… do you realize what you've just done?!"

"Yes. I murdered a Daimyo. _**S**_ _ **o be it.**_ " A looked at the Grail C was holding. "Father and I… We shed too much blood already trying to keep the Holy Grail out of anyone else's hands. If I have to go down in history as a monster that killed a Daimyo in order to protect Father's will… I am prepared for such a sacrifice. You know what you need to do, Darui… _Arrest me with your own hands!_ If you can't do it, then I won't be able to trust you with the village's safety after all!"

"What about Sasuke?! You won't be able to train him properly from _behind bars!_ "

"I suppose I will have to apologize… for making a promise I couldn't keep." A looked down in shame, and then disappointment. "Stop hesitating, Darui!"

Darui's crying intensified. "I'm sorry… so sorry… but _**I JUST CAN'T DO IT!**_ Not after everything that you've done for me, for C, for the village, and for the entire Ninja World… I'm sorry…"

"While I would love to keep watching this _**despair**_ unfold right before my eyes, I simply must end this charade right now."

A disturbingly jovial voice was speaking from the floor. A looked down to see the Frost Daimyo's mouth was still moving, that the Frost Daimyo was still alive despite his beheading. Immediately inferring what it meant, A spat on the blood that caught on his sleeve and desperately tried to wash it off, but while he seemed not to succeed quickly enough, the explosion he was anticipating never came.

"Ninja, if you wouldn't mind putting me back together…"

At the sound of the Frost Daimyo's voice, all the Frost ninja rushed in A's direction. Instinctively, A threw Shichiseiken back in the vicinity of the other Cloud ninja and proceeded to knock out each Frost ninja that came his way with a single punch, effortlessly dodging all the assaults and making a pile of unconscious bodies on top of the Frost Daimyo's head in the process.

"At least he won't be talking for a while… let's go through that window on the floor and tell the Leaf team about the Frost Daimyo." A said as he looked back to the rest of the group. They nodded and stepped forward to the window, but before anyone could open it or break through it, a voice startled them into stopping yet again:

"You really think _mere mortals_ could stop me? _**This World's Rightful King?!**_ Preposterous!"

Immediately following the Frost Daimyo's scream, the paint on the floor crawled up all the Cloud ninja's bodies, restricting their movements and covering everything but their faces. A's lightning chakra aura petered out as the blood prison consumed him. The next moment, the paint on the floor pulled the Frost Daimyo's head out of the pile and placed it back on his body. The Daimyo then stood up and faced the Cloud Ninja, his skin having turned black with white skeletal markings:

"Of course, I couldn't have accomplished this if I hadn't painted the interior in the blood from the _Holy Grail of Jashin_ beforehand… Ha ha ha!"

"All of this red paint was from the _Holy Grail?!_ " A shouted. "Then what C's holding must be…"

"The genuine article, of course!"

The Frost Daimyo took the Holy Grail back out of C's hands. "If you put it in a certain place all the blood comes back as if it was never removed to begin with! That means _Lord Jashin's blood is a truly infinite resource…_ one I've been taking advantage of for over eleven years! Lord Jashin will certainly be pleased with what I've done with the place since his son, _**Lord Jashin's Chosen Prophet**_ , left the Holy Grail in my care 120 years ago!"

"120 years ago?!" All the Cloud ninja asked in unison.

"I'll leave that explanation for when Nodan and those Leaf ninja inevitably figure out what's going on up here and try to stop me. You were all fools to think you had any power over me. That you could simply take me down any time you wished… The _**reverse**_ was true the moment you stepped foot in here. I was the one in _**power**_ the whole time!"

C raised an eyebrow. " _Power…_ what do you mean?"

"This Curse Transformation!" the Frost Daimyo removed one hand from the Holy Grail to point at himself. "On the way here, I drank some of Lord Jashin's blood from a bottle I had on hand, and then used the Transformation Jutsu to make it look like I _**hadn't**_ transformed… Yes, I could control Lord Jashin's blood _from the very start…_ I just waited till _Supreme Commander_ lashed out and _tried to kill me in front of my men_ before I did anything."

"That's impossible. I would have sensed you trans-"

C then had a terrible epiphany. "Genjutsu… You used _my genjutsu_ as an opportunity to transform without being detected…!"

"I even gave you a hint by letting you know I could hear your footsteps stop too… Such a shame you couldn't figure it out until it was too late! It matters not anymore though. What's important is that back when we first met today, _Supreme Commander_ over here was nothing but a _paranoid fool…_ Now he's a paranoid fool that _attempted to assassinate a Daimyo_ _in front of several witnesses!_ Just wait until the Lightning Daimyo hears about this! He won't be able to trust his own country's ninja ever again! How exciting!"

" _Paranoid fool…_ " Fuzai's eyes widened in horror. "That's what _**I**_ called him in the last entry of my diary!"

"Yeah… you _did_ call A that, didn't you?" Darui recalled.

The Frost Daimyo giggled. "Good memory, Fuzai! Of course, I've known about your diary since even before that incident… Orochimaru isn't the only one with moles working within the Hidden Cloud. But I must say, using the _Messenger Bird System_ of all things to incite a _Fifth Ninja World War?_ _**Truly spectacular idea!**_ I should borrow it for myself! Yes, I'll send the Lightning Daimyo a message about what happened here! He'll refuse to provide the Hidden Cloud any more missions, which will all but destroy the Hidden Cloud's economy, forcing them to rob from other villages purely for the sake of survival! The Hidden Cloud versus _all other members of the Shinobi Alliance…_ It's a given who would win, isn't it?! Right, Fuzai?!"

"Yeah… I know."

Fuzai looked down in shame. He would soon snap his eyes back up, however:

"But why would you do this?! I wanted _revenge_ on the village… but as far as I know, the Hidden Cloud never hurt you! The Hidden Frost and Hidden Cloud are allies that take the Chunin Exams together… You even seemed _**grateful**_ to Lord A for having the Shinobi Alliance protect you during the war! Why… What do you have to gain by starting another war?! One that would no doubt get _**your own country**_ caught in the crossfire!"

The Frost Daimyo raised the Holy Grail in the air in triumph. "I told you before. I am the _**Rightful King of This World!**_ This _whole world_ shall be mine to control one day… being Daimyo of such a _pathetically small_ country doesn't satisfy _**me.**_ By beginning war after war, I can rid the larger countries of the opposition standing in my way. Eventually, all the Five Great Shinobi Nations will be destroyed, and the smaller countries will perish just by being nearby… And amongst the ruins, I will be waiting to unify the survivors of the human race under a single _**World Government!**_ Then I won't have to be so secretive about setting people against each other _for my own amusement…_ I'll be able to do it _openly and lawfully_ , as the world's _**One and Only King**_ , second in authority only to Lord Jashin, the one _**god**_ this world needs!"

A was appalled in every fiber of his being. "You mean you wish to start another war for _**your own personal enjoyment?!**_ We shinobi dirty our hands to _**stop**_ war! Even _**Akatsuki**_ was driven by a desire for peace, deluded as it was! You're a disgrace to everything that shinobi stand for! How _**DARE**_ you employ any as your personal guard… even ones from your own country!"

"The anger on your face right now is _**DELICIOUS**_ , _Supreme Commander!_ " the Frost Daimyo laughed as he noticed his Curse Transformation fading. He quickly regained his composure to take a sip from the Holy Grail once more, transforming again. "But you know, as it stands you ave _**no idea**_ just why I am so ecstatic about your rage in particular, _Supreme Commander…_ You hate me for employing ninja to do the exact opposite of what they stand for? But my ninja know _all about_ what I stand for and choose to comply. They want the same thing I do: a world where Lord Jashin's chaos reigns supreme! No, the only ninja I've been _**deceiving**_ with my orders have been you _Hidden Cloud_ pawns… Your skepticism is so _**EASY**_ to manipulate, _Supreme Commander!_ You did exactly as I predicted you would fourteen years ago!"

"So I was right…" Fuzai furrowed his brow as his voice turned bitter. "You knew all along who ordered Father to his death… because you hired him in the first place! You… _**YOU**_ killed Father!"

"Oh, that wasn't me…" the Frost Daimyo chuckled as he pointed to A with his free hand. "Just as the former Raikage said, anonymous missions can be refused. He had the _**choice**_ to walk away, but he didn't… because the thought of _finally having the Grail_ was just too much to resist. And it was the poor girl's father, _Lord Hiashi_ who actually took your father's life… And the demand for Lord Hiashi's life in compensation in case the mission failed wasn't in the instructions either; _Supreme Commander_ here thought of that all on his own! And likewise, it was the _Hidden Leaf_ that decided to trick the Hidden Cloud in turn and use Lord Hiashi's brother as a body double to protect the Byakugan… I'm not even guilty of sending in the mission, because it was actually _one of those Hidden Frost ninja on the ground_ who wrote it; I just told him what words to put on the page. Just because everything went _according to my plans_ doesn't mean I'm actually _**responsible**_ for any of it!"

Everyone, Fuzai most of all, reeled in terror in the face of the Frost Daimyo's depravity and absurd claims of innocence.

"Were you also the client behind Kushina Uzumaki's kidnapping… and the Hidden Whirlpool Village's destruction?" Darui asked, wracked with sorrow.

"Only Kushina's, _Lord Raikage._ I sent that mission in to the Third Raikage, claiming that little Kushina was a member of the Kagura Dynasty and could be used to find the Holy Grail. When he found out she wasn't a member I'm sure he must have been _furious_ with the client, but he couldn't seek them out because _they failed to provide a name._ I wouldn't _**dare**_ hire that man more than once. _Someone else_ did that. I'm certain that whoever it was, it was _**Lord Jashin's will coming to life**_ , for with that mission came the return of Lord Jashin to the world! Though thanks to that meddling Nodan, I didn't know about _**that**_ until a certain young man fresh out of the Ninja Academy bought a copy of _The Way of Jashin_ off a branch of the Hidden Frost Village over eleven years ago!"

"That was Hidan! He kidnapped Yugito alongside Kakuzu as a member of the Akatsuki!" A inferred.

"Oh yes, I've known about _Young Master_ Hidan since he became a Jashinist." the Frost Daimyo remarked with what seemed like sarcasm. "But I doubt he knows _anything_ about me. I made sure to keep my identity as a Jashinist a secret, especially from him, the _**detested**_ grandson of Judan, that traitor!"

"What was your motive for ordering Lady Kushina and Lady Hinata's kidnappings?" C asked. "If you knew in advance that both missions would end in failure, then…"

"Failure was the _**goal**_ all along! It didn't matter if the upstartof a Fourth Hokage rescued the Uzumaki peasantor not, and it didn't matter which ninja Supreme Commander assigned on the suicide mission… What mattered was that the _Hidden Leaf and Hidden Cloud would sever ties with each other!_ I mentioned this already: I've been setting conflicts up between ninja from behind the scenes _for my own amusement_ for quite some time… This is what I meant! You ninja are all _**delightful toys**_ to play with! _**YOU**_ most of all, _Supreme Commander!_ "

"You… You're a monster… No one in the country… No one in the _world_ will obey you after learning about what you've done…" Darui said, too abhorred to put any meaning into his words.

"Now why would I have to worry about that?" the Frost Daimyo asked rhetorically as he marched to the window on the floor. "As Daimyo, I _control_ the flow of information in this country… and every last visitor will be _my servant_ before they leave. _**You hear that, NODAN?!**_ "

The Frost Daimyo ripped the window right out of its socket with blood and sent a stream of blood into the chamber far below. " _ **I have the Hidden Cloud Team hostage, and I know that giant of a pseudo-Jinchuriki can fly, so come up here or I WILL have the Hidden Frost ninja drink from the Holy Grail of Jashin and then steal all their bodies, and destroy you three as well!**_ "

"We already know the position we're in, and Jugo sensed the Hidden Cloud team enter, Daimyo…we're already on our way up!" Nodan shouted from below as Jugo, with Tenten in one arm and Nodan in the other, flew up to the ground floor of the Frost Daimyo's palace.

"No… don't come up here, Jugo! It's a-"

Before Fuzai could complete his warning the Blood Prison he was in expanded to forcibly shut his mouth. Furthermore, the moment Jugo, Tenten, and Nodan were above ground, blood from the ceiling and walls surrounded the three, suspending them in a midair prison, again with only their faces visible.

"A trap?" the Frost Daimyo chuckled as he remained facing the midair Nodan. "Please, Fuzai… they were trapped no matter what they did. They fly up, I imprison them. They remain still, I kill them all. They go running back through the entrance they came from? I flood the tunnel with blood and I _still_ kill them all. You really think someone in command of a whole country would be so _stupid_ as to leave their prey _any_ means of escape? That I wouldn't plot so that I win _regardless_ of the outcome? History… it exists to establish my position as the _Rightful_ _King of This World…_ with Lord Jashin as my world's god!"

"But now the Hidden Frost Village's true MO is out in the open!" Tenten remarked. "You sent Frost ninja to try to kill us before we got close to the Holy Grail!"

"No one's going to believe those ninja were killed in _self-defense_ , not with how many stab wounds they all endured!" the Frost Daimyo laughed yet again. "I might as well send a messenger bird to the Fire Daimyo saying that Frost ninja were _murdered in cold blood_ , stabbed _over and over again_ , by Leaf ninja _**thirsty for Lord Jashin's blood!**_ "

Tenten's eyes widened, overwhelmed by a torrent of agony and just a pinch of guilt, unable to find the words to respond.

"You don't truly believe in Jashin." Nodan said. "The Third Commandment states that _Thou shalt never remove the Holy Grail of Jashin from its proper resting place_!"

The Frost Daimyo lifted the Holy Grail once more. "As Lord Jashin's _**Chosen Keeper of the Holy Grail**_ , I _**DECIDE**_ what that resting place is! And I decree that so long as the Holy Grail of Jashin does not leave the vicinity of the Frost Daimyo's palace, it is still in its proper resting place! Lord Jashin designed His Ten Commandments with loopholes in mind so one may subvert them without violation if necessary! _**Come on**_ , Nodan! I thought your father taught you the scripture properly! He may have been a traitor but he was still _**damn effective**_ at anything he put his mind to! Of course, even with his errors in teaching you _The Way of Jashin_ he was still a better father than _you_ could ever hope to be!"

"Hidan… I… admit I didn't raise him as well as I could have, but I… I never stopped caring about him, even after what he did…"

The Frost Daimyo gave Nodan an accusatory glare. "Don't make me laugh with your _denial._ You claim you love your son? Then why didn't you stop him from leaving the village after he killed Kagura the Second?"

"That's…"

"On top of that, you went as far as brand him an _S-Class criminal_ after he left. His enemies would have fought him to the death… all but _ensuring_ Hidan would kill anyone he came across. Akatsuki would have rejected him outright if he were an A-Class too… So why didn't you reduce his bounty before it happened?"

Nodan tried to speak, but the Frost Daimyo's criticism cut too deeply for him to articulate his thoughts.

"And then you had the chance to free your son from his hell during the Fourth Ninja World War, since Hidan was buried near the Hidden Leaf. But you didn't do that either. Leaving your son to rot underground till the _Ceremonial Killing_ 's time limit expires? How _cruel_ you must be…"

"I had my village to look after…" Nodan said, but he knew he was defeated and submitting to the Frost Daimyo's point of view; his spirit left his words as he spoke them.

"How _convenient_ _ **.**_ It's almost as if you took up the position of Head Ninja just to avoid raising your family _._ But that doesn't explain why you didn't try _talking Hidan into coming clean_ instead of letting the Hidden Leaf clean up _your_ mess and put him back into his little hole… Your words paint the picture of a heartbroken father loving his monster of a son no matter what, but your _inaction_ betrays who you really are: you're _**just as much of a monster as your child**_ _ **.**_ Make no mistake; it wasn't Lord Jashin or Kagura the Second that's responsible for Hidan's path… That's all on _**YOU**_ , Nodan! If you truly loved your son you would have done something, _**anything**_ , to prevent the tragedy that became his life… but you never cared for him at all, did you?"

"Don't listen to him, Nodan!" Tenten protested. "You know he was one of Jashin's original followers and stole the Frost Daimyo's body solely to protect the Holy Grail… _he's_ the monster here, not you! He's only saying this bullshit to make you give up because _**he enjoys making people give up!**_ "

"I stole the Frost Daimyo's body to protect the Holy Grail? Is _that_ what you came to believe, Nodan?" the Frost Daimyo mockingly sighed. "Oh my… Judan hid more from you than I thought. Oh, I became Frost Daimyo to protect the Holy Grail for Lord Jashin alright, but I didn't have to steal anyone's body to accomplish it. I was in line to become Frost Daimyo _to begin with_ _._ "

Everyone imprisoned was frozen with terrible awe while the Frost Daimyo grinned maniacally once more.

"What… what do you mean?!" A said. "That being in charge of this country was your birthright?!"

"Not that I _cared_ , but yes. My father was the eldest son of the Frost Daimyo 150 years ago. My uncle, _**Judan's**_ father, wanted to usurp control of the country and _planned to assassinate my father_ in order to become Daimyo himself. But his plan was thwarted by the _**Nine-Tailed Fox**_ of all things; it attacked our home village the day before the plan was supposed to be carried out! Then from so far away we couldn't see, the Nine-Tails was restrained by chains and killed by _blood-covered chains_ , saving us all. We were all saved by a _**divine miracle**_ , and we put our petty conflict aside to thank whoever saved us… Within thirty years Judan and I were born, and I was to take my father's place as Frost Daimyo when Lord Jashin's son came to us with His Holy Grail, explaining that _his father_ felled the beast, but was expelled from his clan because he had ' _evil_ _'_ chakra in him and couldn't be killed… The nerve of Lord Jashin's _**devilish**_ clan, for being so ungrateful to their _miracle-making leader!_ But not all was lost; _Lord Jashin's will_ remained and would conspire to return Lord Jashin himself to life as a _**true god**_ when the time was right! Until then, I was tasked to keep His Holy Grail safe, while Judan would inspire the people of the Land of Hot Water to follow _The Way of Jashin_ _!_ And when Lord Jashin would return… He would assist me in expanding my empire to the entire planet as a reward for my service!"

"Then why didn't Jashin come here as soon as he was revived?" Jugo objected. _Never mind that Jashin's son was actually Jashin himself back then…_ he thought.

"I don't know… maybe He thought I was purged alongside all the other Jashinists. It doesn't matter! My Lord is free, and it's only a matter of time until he has his ideal body. Once Karin Uzumaki the Second offers her body to My Lord, no one will remain to purge us Jashinists again! Lord Jashin will certainly come visit me then! The revival of Jashinism is at hand… a celebration is in order!"

Suddenly, the Frost Daimyo turned around and brought the Holy Grail down so he could stare into its contents. "Before Lord Jashin arrives here in his new body… I shall treat you all to My Lord's blood! I assure you that you will remain well-fed for the time you will be forced to stay here, and I would like for Lord Jashin to witness the _Mass Jashin Succession Technique_ that is about to unfold with His own eyes. So I propose a toast… to my complete victory over the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Cloud villages, to Nodan's terrible parenting, and most of all to Lord Jashin's resurrection! Now open wide and say ' _ **Itadakimasu**_ '!"

And with that, Jugo, Tenten, Nodan, and the Hidden Cloud team's fates were utterly filled with the darkness of despair, a light of hope not to arrive until near dusk that day…


	60. Chapter 59: Team White Fang Reborn

Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura were continuing north to the Land of Frost atop Odaka. "So how do we find the Holy Grail when we get there, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

"According to Hidan's memory of reading _The Way of Jashin_ , there are nineteen different places to start." Sasuke said. "Karin and I have actually been to one of them."

Karin gasped. " _ **We have?!**_ "

"Yeah… Where I fought Shin."

Sakura's and Karin's eyes widened in response.

"Its position matches the one starting point in the Land of Fire on the map in _The Way of Jashin_." Sasuke continued. "There's one in the Land of Fire, one in the Land of Lightning, five in the Land of Frost, and twelve in the Land of Hot Water… I can only imagine there are so many ways to get in to confuse the outside world and to make Jashinism conventions harder to track. The tunnels spread out too far to ambush intruders the way Orochimaru can with his new hideout. It also allowed Hidan to find and drink from the Holy Grail without being seen leaving the country."

"So why don't we just go back there?" Karin asked. "We already know exactly where it is!"

Sasuke shook his head. "We'd be wasting too much time. The tunnel connecting Shin's hideout and the Holy Grail would take several days to travel through at least. Without food and water prepared in advance, we'd be _starved_ by the time we get there. That and we wouldn't be able to reach the Holy Grail anyway."

"Why not?" asked Sakura. "I know Karin doesn't have a lock pick right now, but as Lord Butsuma demonstrated…" she suddenly cracked her knuckles and grinned, "…there are _other_ ways to open a door without a key. Cha!"

"You don't get it." Sasuke sighed. "There _are_ keys to the Holy Grail. Those keys just so happen to be _ninjutsu_. When you get to one of the starting points, you need to use Earth Style to tear open a piece of the floor, revealing a ladder leading down into a tunnel. Then after making the trip to Jashinism's lair, you need to use Wind Style to nullify a strong air current in the way, like what Temari and Yoshitsune did to let us fly through the Land of Wind's skies. Once you're in, there's a well in the centre of the room with unnaturally cold water, and you have to lift the water out of the well with Water Style to finally reach the room with the Holy Grail. You need to be decent at all three of those elements to find the Holy Grail, and none of us can use those three elements. But there are people in the Land of Frost who can help us with that."

Sakura nodded. "I see what you're driving at: Jugo and Tenten. The Land of Frost is halfway between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Cloud villages, so they'd meet up there in order to gather the _Treasured Tools of the Six Paths_ as quickly as possible. And between Tenten owning the Bashosen and Jugo having enough chakra to use it…"

"Precisely. While _we_ might not be able to open the path to the Holy Grail, _Jugo using the Bashosen can._ Karin, when we make it to the Land of Frost, make finding Jugo's and Tenten's chakra your highest priority."

"Got it!"

Karin's mood quickly shifted back to confusion. "Hold on, Sasuke… you say we need Earth, Wind, and Water Style to find the Holy Grail. But aren't those the chakra elements that compose Blood Style?"

"Yeah. I assume Jashin made it like that so he could test a potential follower's aptitude for the _Secret Battle Arts of Jashin…_ though Hidan destroyed his copy of _The Way of Jashin_ before he got to the chapter on Blood Style, so I can't say for sure. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just that Hidan wasn't aware Blood Style _existed_ until Jashin freed him yesterday. And as far as I could tell between Jashin's instructions and fighting Hidan myself, _Fire_ was Hidan's dominant element; he put so much emphasis on his Blood Style's explosive power. So how did _Hidan_ find his way to the Holy Grail to begin with? You read his mind, so you should know…"

"He got there the same way _we_ plan to: with help. After buying his copy of _The Way of Jashin_ off the black market, the dealer promised Hidan that he'd make sure his purchase didn't go to waste. And by that, he meant that he'd hire a team of ninja with the appropriate skills to meet Hidan and open the path to the Holy Grail for him, whether Hidan was able to do it himself or not."

"That's inconceivable!" Sakura protested. "Missions need to be _reviewed by the Daimyo of the client's home country_ before they're sent to the villages for completion. None of the Daimyo would pass along a mission that demands to assist someone in becoming the first Jashinist since the end of the First Ninja World War! And the only people with the authority to bypass the Daimyo and request missions from the villages directly are Village Heads and other Daimyo, and those cases are strictly for emergencies!"

"Conceivable or not, that's what happened. Maybe the mission wasn't lawful. Maybe it was a team of Rogue Ninja that took the assignment, like how Gato hired Zabuza and Haku. Maybe one of the Daimyo is a closet Jashinist for all I know! The Human Path can't falsify memories, Sakura!"

The pink-haired kunoichi sighed. "Okay, okay… Could you tell what village accepted the mission?"

"No… they weren't wearing anything to distinguish themselves as ninja from a certain village or clan. No flak jackets, no headbands, no clan insignia… They might as well have been disguised as civilians. That or they were Rogue Ninja that discarded everything tying them to their former homes…"

"We can worry about who helped Hidan become a follower of Jashin after we've dealt with Jashin himself." Karin interjected. "Thanks for answering anyway, Sasuke."

"No problem, Karin. Anything else you're curious about?"

"Yeah, actually… Mom. She sensed Curse Energy in Hidan just out of the blue one day. But it would have taken a few days for Hidan to go to the Holy Grail, drink from it, and return to the village. Mom should have sensed Hidan with Curse Energy on his way back, but she didn't. You have any idea why that is?"

"Oh, that…" Sasuke's expression turned grim. "It takes _thirteen days_ for Curse Energy to spread throughout and merge with the body and mind after someone's drank Jashin's blood. Only then does it become mixed with the host and become detectable by any means. Hidan drank from the Holy Grail and returned home _over a week_ before your mother sensed anything was wrong."

Sakura looked down at her lap in horror. "So someone could have already drunk from the Holy Grail and nobody would be able to tell for almost two weeks… And when that time comes, Jashin could very well take over that person's body and start fresh…"

"He might even take over earlier than that." Sasuke added, scaring the two women in the back. "Karin, Recall when Jashin tried to steal your body."

"Alright…"

Karin crossed her arms and contemplated, before coming to an epiphany:

"Oh! Jashin could use _One's Own Blood Detonation_ without a voice command! So he can use Blood Style even while his body is just a pool of blood… You think Jashin could _speed up the process of spreading the Curse_ by manipulating the blood from his original body?"

"I'm not ruling out the possibility. Since losing his Shinigami Energy, Jashin's become cornered and desperate. There's no telling what he's capable of now. I might have defeated him at his _strongest,_ but his current condition makes him even more _dangerous_ than before."

"To be safe, maybe we should go over everything we know about Jashin one more time." Sakura suggested. "We might find some information that can give us an edge."

Sasuke nodded. "Good idea."

"I like the sound of that too!" Karin added. "So where do we begin?"

[X-X-X]

After Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura shared their information, Sakura was going through Sasuke's and Karin's accounts in her head. After some thinking she came upon a dilemma:

"That's odd… According to Karin's meeting with Kagemaru and Karin the First, _Jashin_ was the mastermind behind Kamina and Yoko's murder, with Black Zetsu acting as Jashin's subordinate. But according to Sasuke-kun and Orochimaru's reasoning, _Black Zetsu_ was the one who orchestrated it and Jashin's release, using Jashin like a pawn as he would anyone else other than Kaguya… Who was _really_ in charge? I can't imagine _either of them_ willingly being subservient to the other…"

"I doubt either of them trusted each other." Sasuke answered. "Jashin and Black Zetsu likely co-operated with the intent on double-crossing one another when they outlived each other's usefulness. At the very least, we know for a fact that Black Zetsu hid that he planned to create another Rinnegan from Jashin, since Jashin didn't know what the Rinnegan was capable of during the times he fought me. Of course, that's assuming that Black Zetsu wasn't manipulating Jashin the same way he manipulated Madara."

"But if that was the case, then why did Black Zetsu reveal himself and kill Kamina and Yoko within Great Great Grandma's sensing range when he could have just waited until they were too far away, Sasuke?" Karin asked. "He was _easily_ capable of getting away with murder but opted to _deliberately_ leave a witness behind… one that would obviously try to hunt him down!"

"You just answered your own question, Karin. Getting Karin the First to think Jashin was in charge was _part of Black Zetsu's plan_. Karin the First, rather than openly defy 'the accomplice', chose to go along with his expectations on the surface while _subtly_ moving against them. She made most of the world think the Uzumaki clan was going after Jashin the First when they were really going after Black Zetsu. That's _exactly what Black Zetsu would want_ since he was confident no one could find him by merging with the planet. He hid away without a trace as the Uzumaki clan reduced its numbers going up against Jashinists on a _wild goose chase_ , so he could better control which clan Asura's reincarnations would be born into."

"So by allying himself with Jashin, Black Zetsu tried to _eliminate_ the Uzumaki clan… so he'd know for sure Asura's next reincarnation would be a Senju?!" Sakura inferred.

"The Uchiha and Senju were bitter enemies that interacted frequently." Sasuke said. "The Uchiha and Uzumaki didn't have that kind of relationship, which would have made it harder for Black Zetsu to make a Rinnegan if Asura's reincarnation in any given pair was an Uzumaki."

Karin's eyes widened. "With the Hidden Whirlpool Village destroyed and almost all of my clan dead after that, Black Zetsu could be _almost certain_ that Asura's next reincarnation would be born in the Hidden Leaf, where Indra's reincarnation would also be! That definitely made things easy for him! Just think, if I were born a year later, then _**I**_ could have been Asura's reincarnation instead of Naruto, and Black Zetsu would have had to deal with the reincarnations being in different countries!"

"Assuming Asura and Indra don't discriminate by gender, anyway." Sakura remarked. "All the reincarnations we know of are men."

"Nevertheless, Black Zetsu considered Jashin a tool, just like he considered Madara a tool. That's… something to use against him, I guess." Sasuke concluded. "I don't know how effective it'll be on him, but if he's made aware that someone else was pulling his strings all along, then maybe Jashin's perception of himself as a god might shatter… That or he'll simply refuse to be manipulated by anyone anymore and keep going, declaring himself a 'better god'… it's better than having nothing, at any rate. Make sure you remember this, both of you."

"Will do!" the two ladies replied in unison.

[X-X-X]

Sakura was shivering in response to the cold air. "We've passed into the Land of Frost!" she shouted, looking down at the landscape below. It was covered in tall coniferous trees and a light blanket of snow. The scenery reminded her of the Land of Iron, the place where she faked a confession to Naruto and her and Sasuke tried to kill each other, and being reminded of these things only intensified her shivering. She looked beside herself and found that Karin was listlessly staring at the sunset, no doubt recalling the same event she was.

"Karin, you know what to do!" Sasuke commanded from the front.

Karin focused and made a hand seal, searching as far as she could for any signs of Jugo's or Tenten's chakra. After a while she sighed and crossed her arms in disappointment. "I can't find them anywhere. Maybe they're farther north. That or they're under- _**WHOA!**_ "

Karin was interrupted by Odaka, who was flapping her wings far more intensely than usual. The savage wing beats threw Karin off balance, partially out of her seat, and before she could react she was lying on top of Sakura's lap. Sakura was also struggling to maintain balance.

" _ **KAWWW!**_ " Odaka cried.

"Hold still, Odaka!" Sasuke tried to make the giant hawk stop with the reins, but to no avail. "What's gotten into you?!"

" _ **KAWWW!**_ "

"Great… Just great!" Karin said as she tried to sit up without falling off. "The one time Odaka _fucking_ speaks and Jugo's not here to translate!"

Odaka turned west, into the Land of Hot Water, without waiting for orders. " _ **KAWWW!**_ "

"I didn't tell you to turn _West_ , Odaka!" Sasuke protested as he kept futilely trying to make her stop. "Stop means _**stop**_ , not ' _turn left_ ' _!_ "

It was then that Sasuke and Sakura both saw what the likely cause for Odaka's outburst was.

"Hey… there's another bird!" Sakura pulled her right hand out from under Karin's torso and pointed forward. In the distance, she could see a bird much smaller than Odaka carrying what seemed to be a scroll in its talons making zigzags in the sky, turning towards and away from Odaka in rapid succession.

Sasuke struggled to make sense of Odaka's sudden change in behaviour. "That's strange… Odaka was trained _not_ to interrupt messenger birds on a mission in progress! Heck, she _was_ a messenger bird when she was younger!"

"Odaka's not the problem…" said Karin, having finally managed to climb back to her seat. "It's the other bird. I sensed its chakra, and it's extremely _cold_ _ **.**_ Not _dark_ , mind you, just _cold…_ I think that other bird is _very sad_ for some reason, and Odaka noticed it. Odaka's trying to cheer the other bird up!"

At that moment, Odaka slowed down and eased up on her passengers.

Sakura took the opportunity to regain her balance and relax. "I think you're right, Karin!" "Odaka stopped giving us trouble!" she said.

"Very well… if you want to help this other bird so much, we'll aid you, Odaka."

After making his promise, Sasuke let go of the reins to pat Odaka at the base of her neck before quickly grabbing them again. With her master's reassurance, Odaka confidently and calmly glided over to the other bird's position, gently letting it know they meant no harm and wouldn't keep it from its business for long. The other bird responded in kind, its confusion waning as it decided to fly over to Odaka.

When Odaka and the other bird met halfway, Taka got a good look at the bird, and the first new thing everyone noticed was that there were bruises over both of its eyes. Sakura stood up and tried to examine the bruises more closely. Upon closer inspection, she gasped:

"Oh my god… you've been beaten! And _recently_ too, from the looks of it! Whatever that message is, someone _**tortured**_ you into delivering it, am I right?!"

"Kawww…" the bird responded as it flew down to Sakura's hands. Everyone present heard the weakness and desperation in the bird's voice, the polar opposite of the strength in Odaka's.

Once Sakura had a firm hold on the bird, the bird let go of its message. It flew back up over her head and circled around, remaining nearby.

"I think it wants you to read the message…" Karin inferred.

"O… Okay. I'll read it." Sakura nodded, and then looked down to the scroll in her hands. She noticed the Hidden Frost symbol embroidered on the outside of the scroll. "Someone… someone in the Land of Frost is going to _pay_ for what they did to this bird."

Without another moment's hesitation, Sakura broke the seal on the scroll, unrolled it, and read the message:

 _Dear Fire Daimyo:_

 _Your country's ninja cannot be trusted!_

 _As you may already be aware, Sixth Hokage Kakashi Hatake supposedly sent Hidden Leaf Chunin Tenten and Snake Sage Jugo on an emergency mission to my country to meet with a team from the Hidden Cloud Village and reunite the Treasured Tools of the Six Paths, as a contingency plan to stop Jashin from bringing chaos to the whole world in the event that Sasuke Uchiha and his team fail to stop Jashin at the Land of Whirlpools, and that I was asked permission by the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Cloud to hold their meeting in the country. Permission that I granted._

 _Unfortunately, it seems as though that entire mission was a lie. In reality, the Hidden Leaf plans to steal the Holy Grail of Jashin for themselves! The source of the power used to murder First Hokage Hashirama Senju and begin the First Ninja World War… No one village ought to have a monopoly on the Holy Grail of Jashin's terrible power, but it seems as though the Hidden Leaf thinks differently! The Hidden Leaf… they must have discerned the location of the Holy Grail of Jashin by inspecting Akatsuki Member Hidan's mind, and came to my country looking for it!_

 _Oh yes, the Holy Grail of Jashin was hidden in my country all along! Ninja from the Hidden Frost managed to find the Holy Grail of Jashin just a few days ago. I was planning on calling a Five Daimyo Summit to inform the neighbouring countries - the Lands of Fire, Lightning, Water, and Hot Water - about the discovery, but before I could make the necessary preparations, the Holy Grail of Jashin was stolen and the team that made the discovery was murdered by none other than Hidden Leaf Chunin Tenten and Snake Sage Jugo!_

 _I repeat: Sixth Hokage Kakashi Hatake abused a Head Ninja's power to request emergency missions without a Daimyo's review in order to instigate a plot to steal the Holy Grail of Jashin and have a legal excuse to kill soldiers in other countries! I would not put it past the Hidden Leaf to use the meeting with the Hidden Cloud as a way to take all the Treasured Tools of the Six Paths for themselves either! I claim no responsibility for what befalls your country, but if I were you, I would think twice about giving the Hidden Leaf another mission ever again._

 _With regards,_

 _Frost Daimyo._

"… and that's it." Sakura concluded, her eyes widening with horror as she finished reading.

"What a load of _**bullshit!**_ " Karin shouted. "The Hokage would never do something that dirty and underhanded! _Danzo_ maybe, but not fucking _**Kakashi!**_ "

"Even if the Hidden Leaf _wanted_ to take the Holy Grail, they could have just used the entrance in the Land of Fire without having to ask the Frost Daimyo for permission to enter the country and took it without arousing any suspicion. If the village read Hidan's mind before I did, that is." Sasuke added.

Sakura looked up to the bird, who was still circling overhead. "No wonder you were so sad carrying this letter. This letter contains a _lie…_ and lying with the messenger bird system is libel: a _crime._ "

"What do we do, Sasuke?" Karin asked.

Sasuke smirked. "Isn't it obvious? We turn back around and confront the Frost Daimyo with this letter, preferably in front of his entire guard, to expose him as the corrupt politician he is."

"But then your pardon will be revoked!" Sakura objected. "Lying in a message is a crime, but so is _intercepting one_ and keeping it from reaching its destination! If you do that in front of me… then I'll have no choice but to haul you back to prison myself!"

"My pardon will be revoked either way."

Sakura was shocked into silence.

"If I intercept this letter, then you see Karin and me committing a crime and you're obligated to escort us back to the Hidden Leaf for our sentences. That's true. But if I _don't_ intercept this letter, then among other things, Jugo gets _accused of murder_."

"And since Jugo staying clean is _your responsibility_ as his superior…" Karin continued, morbid.

"Yeah… if _any_ member of Taka gets caught committing a crime, my pardon is revoked along with theirs. So _no matter what_ , I'm going to prison. At least if we do things the way I suggested, we can prove Jugo's innocence and save him from a crime he didn't commit. Karin… you feel the same way too, right? You're willing to go back to jail to save Jugo and Tenten?"

Karin scowled. "What a _stupid_ question!"

She then swiftly turned her frown upside down:

" _ **Of course**_ I'm willing! If you're going to prison and someone from Taka has to go with you either way, then it better be because of something _they actually did!_ And what I said before we landed in the Hidden Rain still applies today; if I _**sacrifice**_ Jugo and Tenten to preserve my own freedom then I'll be no better than _**you**_ were at the Five Kage Summit!"

"Thank you, Karin."

Without another word, Sasuke commanded Odaka to turn around. The hawk obeyed without complaint.

"But what about Jashin?!" Sakura objected as she sat back down during Odaka's one-hundred and eighty degree turn. "What if someone drinks from the Holy Grail while we're meeting with the Frost Daimyo?!"

"I have a hunch… that the Frost Daimyo will take us there. He must have some way of providing 'evidence' that what he claimed in his letter is true if the Fire Daimyo were to respond with doubts. That evidence probably links back to the Holy Grail. He claimed that Jugo and Tenten stole the Holy Grail, so there has to be something he can use to enforce that tale, and to do that, he'd have to know where _at least one of those_ is."

"So Jugo and Tenten are the Frost Daimyo's hostages, or the Frost Daimyo stole the Holy Grail instead?" Karin asked.

"Or both… There's nothing keeping both from being true at the same time. Of course, Jashin might have already taken over the Frost Daimyo's body and _wrote this himself_ purely for chaos' sake… No matter the circumstance though, I have a feeling that meeting the Frost Daimyo will bring us closer to Jashin. It's just a different way than we originally planned. Besides…"

Sasuke's voice trailed off in to silence.

"Besides what?" Sakura prodded.

"Besides… this is what the White Fang would do. One who abandons the rules is scum, but one who abandons their comrades is even _worse_ than scum. And right now my comrades are in trouble. Kakashi said it'd reflect badly on him if my pardon was ever revoked, but Kakashi would be even more disappointed with me if I _didn't_ risk my pardon if it meant saving my friends. And I'm sure my parents would have felt the same way."

"That's right… they were the White Fang's students."

Sakura paused for a moment, and then smiled as she energetically pumped her fists. "And as Kakashi-Sensei's disciple, I subscribe to that belief too! Don't worry about me falling behind again, Sasuke-kun. I'll be by your side all the way on this! Cha!"

Sasuke sighed. "You're doing it again…"

" _What_ am I doing?"

"Calling me Sasuke _-kun_." The Uchiha said, shocking Sakura and Karin alike. "Don't you feel like we're close enough that you don't need to use it anymore?"

"Umm…" Sakura blushed as she stumbled over her words. "I… I don't know what to say to that…"

Karin giggled. "Wow. You went on this _**big**_ rant to Sai about why you don't tell Naruto off on calling you Sakura _-chan_ despite considering it an insult, but when Sasuke asks you to drop the _-kun_ you don't know what to say?! You're just as bad at understanding men as Naruto is at understanding women! No one's going to think you're Sasuke's girlfriend while _**I'm**_ around, since I can say Sasuke without the _-kun_ and you can't!"

Sakura's fists started to shake. "You want me to bop you on the head again, Karin?"

"That's not it, Sakura… _Orochimaru_ stopped using it on me." Sasuke revealed with a smirk. "Until you feel like dropping the _-kun_ it's going to feel like Orochimaru has the closer bond with me, let alone Karin…"

Sakura's eyes went blank with fury:

"That can't be! … _Me_ second place… to _**THAT SNAKE?!**_ That does it… I've got to start calling you Sasuke from now on, Sasuke! No way am I going to lose out to him _again_ , Sasuke! Cha!"

"There's your first lesson about men, Sakura!" Karin remarked. "Men are _just like women_ in that in their natural state, they're _very jealous_ about their mates, and they also respond well to spirited competition! Sorry about that last comment, Sakura. I was trying to push you closer to Sasuke by igniting the fire in your heart through rivalry, but it seems like Sasuke pushed that button better than I could."

"That's not your fault, Karin; Sakura already had a rival for that." Sasuke said. "Speaking of which, that reminds me… When I was in the Shinigami's dimension, I got to talk with Ino. She said she figured out that your feelings for me were deeper than hers quite some time ago, Sakura, and kept competing with you to push you into bettering yourself… She said she was _happy_ that you and I finally got together."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well duh! I figured that out _myself_ a long time ago! She's my best friend!"

"Well Naruto and I aren't all that different from Ino and you. And then there's how Karin brings the best out of Suigetsu…"

"I think that discussion's best left for later!" Karin interjected. "Like when we explain to him that we revoked our pardons to save Jugo. By then I'll have thought up a strategy to make a man out of him _from behind bars!_ I know for fact he won't be patient enough to wait a whole decade for me!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Sasuke objected. "Suigetsu was adamant he wouldn't love anyone again if he lost you when we used _Samsara of Heavenly Life_ in front of him. I'm sure that as long as Suigetsu has a shot with you he won't be looking for romance anywhere else. Their temperaments and personalities couldn't be further apart, but at the core of his feelings and beliefs, Suigetsu's just as devoted as Hinata."

"Come to think of it… you're right! I don't need to worry about him leaving me while I'm in jail… I need to worry about him revoking his pardon on purpose just to spend more time with me and _become my prison bitch!_ "

"Says the woman who turned herself in to Hidden Leaf ninja after the war so she could spend some more time with the man she was pursuing at the time…"

Karin and Sakura were both made speechless by Sasuke's rebuttal.

"Whatever… let's just focus on taking the Frost Daimyo down!" Karin crossed her arms as Odaka kept flying east in to the Land of Frost.

The smaller bird kept pace right above them. Whether it was because it wanted to follow Odaka or simply because it wanted to return home he couldn't be sure, but Sasuke noticed its continued presence briefly before he diverted his attention forward, toward the Frost Daimyo and behind him, Jashin.


	61. Chapter 60: A King's Hubris

While Karin, Sasuke, and Sakura made their way to the Frost Daimyo's palace, the Uzumaki let out a gasp. "No…"

"What's wrong, Karin?" Sasuke asked.

"I can sense…" Karin paused to count with her fingers, "… _fourteen_ people with Curse Energy just a little ways east from here! And I can recognize _eight_ of their chakras!"

"Who are they?!" Sakura shouted.

"First things first… Jugo and Tenten."

Karin's revelation made Sasuke and Sakura flinch. "The next four are the previous Raikage, A; the current Raikage, Darui; C, and Fuzai." Karin added.

"That must be the Cloud Team…" Sasuke inferred. _The Frost Daimyo's Palace should be around where Karin sensed them… Damn… The Frost Daimyo must have force-fed both teams blood from the Holy Grail for some reason, and Jashin must have hastened the Curse…_ he thought. "Who are the last two, Karin?"

"That's the thing… I don't know their names, just their chakra. One of them was in the Hidden Leaf when I met up with you during the war. The other walked by us when we were in that Hidden Cloud prison cell and you told us what was in Fuzai's diary."

Sakura stroked her chin in confusion. "A fifth Cloud ninja? But wouldn't five ninja on the team slow them down too much? Especially with a prisoner and three of the _Treasured Tools of the Six Paths_ with them?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "There's another explanation…"

"What is it, Sasuke?"

Before the Uchiha could answer Sakura's question, however…

"Never mind right now!" Karin shouted. "Hostile chakra right beneath us! Four of them! I think we're under attack!"

The next moment, just as Karin predicted, four ninjutsu attacks were approaching them from below; a ball of Fire, a stream of Earth, a gust of razor Wind, and a pulse of Water.

"Odaka's not trained for combat, just transport…" Sasuke grumbled. Then an idea immediately clicked in his mind:

"Sakura! Karin! Get close to me!"

Sasuke stood up on Odaka and let go of the reins. Karin and Sakura complied without a word, themselves standing up and leaping forward to Sasuke's position. When Sasuke could feel both of their bodies next to his, he cancelled Odaka's summon, leaving all three of them in midair and about to fall in to the attacks.

" _ **Susano'o!**_ "

At Sasuke's command the purple construction manifested in its complete, colossal form, now with the Totsuka Blade in its left hand and the Yata Mirror in its right with Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura secure in its forehead. Susano'o faced down toward the attacks and raised the Yata Mirror, reflecting all four elemental attacks with mimicked versions coming out from the shield. All four elemental attacks collided with their reflections and were nullified in small explosions as a result.

When the explosions dissipated, four kunai were left in their place, still ascending. Without the elemental enhancements, however, the kunai simply bounced off Susano'o without doing any damage. From their height, Sasuke could just barely make out four screams, though with the cover of plentiful coniferous trees he couldn't see the assailants.

"They've stopped attacking us." Karin said. "The four chakra aren't hostile anymore… they're running away in fear!"

"I see… We'll need to make them talk about why they tried to kill us." Sasuke declared. "Karin, tell me where to land so we cut them off from wherever they're headed."

"Yes sir!"

[X-X-X]

One of the Frost ninja panicked as he ran alongside his teammates. "We don't stand a chance against something that huge! How does Lord Daimyo expect us to kill _anyone that approaches_ on our way to recovering the bodies when something as monstrous as _**that**_ shows up?!"

"Just be quiet about it!" another Frost ninja, this one a woman, scolded. "If Lord Daimyo doesn't _know_ we let that thing get away, then he can't punish us for failure!"

"But Lord Jashin will be arriving in the body of the last member of the Kagura Dynasty." another objected. " _They'll_ know if we're lying about our mi-"

"And just _**who**_ would know about your mission?!"

The voice that interrupted them was commanding and feminine, and came from the sky. The four Frost ninja looked up to find the same purple monster they encountered descending right in front of them, toppling several trees as it landed. The purple construct then disappeared, and three people emerged from its forehead. All four of the Frost ninja were frozen with disbelief when among the trio was a red-headed woman with glasses, matching the description they were given before they were deployed. Not a second later, the Frost ninja screamed in unison and bowed at Karin's feet:

" _ **PLEASE FORGIVE US, LORD JASHIN!**_ "

 _I see… They think Jashin won and took over my body. We can use that to our advantage…_ Karin thought as she grinned as wickedly as she could, tipping Sasuke and Sakura off to her plan. Then she diverted her attention to the one Frost ninja who was still standing, the woman:

"You… you _refuse_ to kneel. What's keeping you from showing your devotion to _me_ , _**Lord Jashin**_ , the _God of Destruction?!_ "

"I'm not yet convinced you _**are**_ My Lord. For one thing, Lord Jashin's _chosen vessel_ , Karin Uzumaki the Second, is flat-chested!" She pointed at Karin's breasts. "You might resemble her in all other ways, but that chest is a dead give-away! You're an impostor!"

"You lied just now, _girl._ You know the reason _**My Chosen Vessel**_ aged rapidly and filled out… I believe detecting that lie proves this body belongs to _**My Chosen Vessel.**_ "

"I admit it… That was just a test."

Despite the confession, however, the Frost Kunoichi remained standing. "I'm still not willing to believe you are Lord Jashin. Tell me something only Lord Jashin would know… like Lord Jashin's _Three Mortal Miracles._ The ones that prove Lord Jashin was a god trapped in human bonds before He ascended to true divinity!"

"Very well! _**My First Mortal Miracle**_ was being born with the Blood Style Kekkei Tota, the first triple element combination in ninja history! _**My Second Mortal Miracle**_ was mastering the Uzumaki clan's _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ at greater speeds than anyone else! And _**My Third Mortal Miracle**_ was being the first and only ninja in history to slay the Nine-Tailed Fox! Do you reject my godhood even _now_ , girl?!"

The Frost Kunoichi promptly bowed along with her male teammates. "No… you are who you say you are, Lord Jashin! Please forgive my prideful stance against you!"

"Allow us to take you to Lord Daimyo. He has been expecting you." one of the shinobi said as they remained knelt. But he also pulled a kunai out from his back pouch and raised it in the air, offering it to Karin. "Also, please allow us to pay for our transgressions by _killing your prisoners for you,_ as Your Second Commandment dictates, My Lord!"

Karin kicked the kunai out of the Frost Shinobi's hands. "These two behind me are _**not**_ my prisoners! They wish to become _followers!_ There is no need to kill either of them! And take us to the Frost Daimyo as quickly as possible. I have been awaiting an audience with him as well."

"Yes, My Lord!" shouted all four Frost ninja in unison.

The four promptly stood up and began walking in the opposite direction they were running from. Karin, Sasuke, and Sakura followed, but the messenger bird did not, for Karin sensed that its chakra was headed in a different direction and Sasuke and Sakura could no longer see it.

[X-X-X]

The Frost Daimyo looked around his dining room on the second floor, content with his surroundings, including the Holy Grail of Jashin and the _Treasured Tools of the Six Paths_ except for Benihisago all gathered in a corner of the room to the Frost Daimyo's right.

"How is the dinner I've prepared for you all? _Spare ribs_ , with a side helping of _pumpkin salad_ , with _Lord Jashin's blood_ to help it all down!"

He sat down at the head of the table and picked up the fork and spoon near his plate to begin eating. All seven of his prisoners were bound to chairs through the use of Blood Style on the Frost Daimyo's left - with a Frost ninja positioned near each one to feed them - and the six Frost ninja who were chosen to take his hostages' bodies in thirteen days on his right. All his hostages but Nodan, that is.

"I know it's late, but my messenger birds were giving me more… _difficulty_ than usual. No matter. _**Itadakimasu!**_ " The Frost Daimyo bombastically declared as he began stuffing his face with pumpkin innards.

"Pumpkin… Neji _hated_ eating pumpkin…" Tenten complained, helpless as the Frost ninja attending to her shoved some into her mouth.

The Frost Daimyo momentarily stopped eating and raised an eyebrow, some pumpkin still not-yet-swallowed. "Did he now? I wonder if that's something he inherited from his father… The one I had sacrifice himself to compensate for the death of Fuzai's old man… Not like I care. I love pumpkin! Next to Lord Jashin's blood, it's my favourite food in the whole world!"

"I suppose you like eating spare ribs as well?" Nodan asked with disgust in his face.

The Frost Daimyo nodded as he swallowed.

The Head Ninja's eye twitched. "I can't believe it… to think you and I _share a favourite food._ "

The Frost Daimyo let his utensils down to pick up a rib. "Don't act so surprised. We're blood relatives, Nodan… our taste buds were bound to have similarities! You know…" he chomped down on the rib and proceeded to chew some meat, "I stopped creating vessels for myself after the Purge to avoid being discovered. So assuming Hidan's been taken care of by now, if I were to inexplicably _disappear…_ you'd be the only one in line to become Frost Daimyo."

The Frost Daimyo concluded by picking up his glass to drink some blood, activating his Curse Transformation in the process.

"You're going to steal my body, is that it?" Nodan inferred. "The powers of a Head Ninja and a Daimyo at once… that's your current goal."

"Along with starting the _Fifth Ninja World War?_ Guilty as charged. Shame there's nothing anyone can do to stop me, since everyone here will be under my command on their way out… Hold on a minute…"

The Frost Daimyo suddenly got out of his seat to place his ear to the floor, checking on something. "As I thought, someone's opening the palace's Western gate. Please excuse me as I invite in our guests."

The Frost Daimyo stood up and made a hand seal, transforming to mask his Curse Transformation. Then he proceeded to leave the table, shutting all his prisoners' mouths with blood before exiting the room.

He calmly walked out the door and down the nearest flight of stairs, and over to the western hall on the main floor. He noticed seven people at the edge of the hall, and as soon as he did, without lifting a finger he made the blood on the floor encircle and imprison the four Frost ninja he sent out earlier that day to retrieve the bodies. This prompted the other three to look down at their sandals and notice the bases of their feet were covered in blood and stuck to the concrete, unable to move.

"Lord Daimyo?! What are you doing?!" one of the Frost shinobi asked in protest and panic. In response, the blood tightened around the Frost ninja's necks and the Frost Daimyo continued approaching:

"You remember my orders, right? _Kill anyone_ that approaches you?"

"But this is Lord Jashin!" the Frost Kunoichi pleaded, struggling for breath.

The Frost Daimyo spat in the Frost Kunoichi's direction. "I can see that! But you also let in two more potential enemies! You four are such _imbeciles_ , I swear! The whole point of the orders ' _kill anyone that approaches_ ' was to ensure that anyone's claims of being Lord Jashin or His followers were _genuine_ , for they would be the only ones who would _**get killed by you and survive!**_ Now I'll have to confirm their identities my own way."

The _Blood Prison_ 's grip on all four Frost ninja tightened even further, expanding to cover their mouths as well.

"What way would that be, Frost Daimyo?" Karin asked as she puffed up her chest to give the appearance of being in command. Sasuke and Sakura followed Karin's gaze to show subservience.

"That's simple… if you are truly Lord Jashin, then you will not flinch when I carry out _His_ _Second Commandment!_ "

All four Frost ninja tried to scream at the Frost Daimyo's exclamation, but their words were not heard, and before they could blink their confines exploded in a bloody mess. Their bodies were destroyed without leaving a single trace behind, save for the blood that splashed on to Karin, Sasuke, and Sakura, who were prevented from leaving the blasts' area of effect thanks to the blood on the floor keeping them in place.

"Oh my! It seems the three of you weren't startled in the least. Lord Jashin… It's really you!"

The Frost Daimyo started merrily skipping to Karin's position, only to suddenly stop and clap his hands:

" _ **Release!**_ "

The Frost Daimyo snapped himself back to consciousness, careful to place his attention to the floor so he didn't pass another accidental glance at Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke smirked and stroked his chin. "So you dispelled the genjutsu. As Lord Jashin expected, you are no ordinary Daimyo…"

"I did not order you to place the Frost Daimyo in a genjutsu!" Karin scolded as she stepped forward. "If you wish to become _My Follower_ , you will have to learn to obey my command!"

Sasuke dipped his head. "Please forgive me, Lord Jashin…"

"I fail to see the motive for placing me in a genjutsu…" the Frost Daimyo remarked, "considering that my ninja appear to have been erased in reality as well. Their bodies are nowhere to be seen and the three of you are still covered in blood… and I am now uncertain of your identity yet again."

Karin put her hands on her hips, acting as arrogantly as possible. "I can rectify any doubts you may have! Ask any question you may have about me, _**Lord Jashin!**_ "

"No… that I won't do. If you are _**not**_ Lord Jashin, then the ninja I punished might have been fooled by those very same questions… I have a more _efficient_ method."

"And that would be?" Sakura asked.

The Frost Daimyo placed his hands behind his back on reflex. "I _would_ try to kill you all here and now and let Lord Jashin's immortality speak for itself, but Karin Uzumaki the Second's body is too valuable, with or without My Lord in control, so that's out of the question… That leaves the matter of the other bodies. They once belonged to Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, one half of the team sent to defeat My Lord yesterday. What happened to the _other_ half, Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga?"

Karin wagged one of her index fingers at the Frost Daimyo. "That's a _loaded question._ I sent Naruto Uzumaki to _**My Holy Ground**_ in the process of acquiring this vessel as my own… The inhabitant of Naruto's body during the pursuit of me was the Nine-Tailed Fox!"

"Good observation." the Frost Daimyo nodded as he approached Karin once more. "That proves you have Lord Jashin's _intelligence_ if nothing else… I shall revise my question accordingly: what happened to the _bodies_ of Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga?"

 _Dammit… what do I say?_ _I can't tell the truth, that's a given… If I say Kurama and Hinata both died, then the Daimyo would know I'm lying right away since Fuzai would have reacted to Kurama's death… If I say Kurama escaped but Hinata died, then the Frost Daimyo could call Kurama out of character because he wouldn't dare abandon Hinata, for Naruto's sake… And I have to explain why Sasuke and Sakura are following me, since if they still had control of their bodies they wouldn't have… The only scenario that the Frost Daimyo might buy is… that!_

Karin steeled herself for the answer she had just come up with. "After completing the _Jashin Succession Technique_ to acquire _**My Chosen Vessel**_ , Hidan and I fought the team sent to engage me. We captured Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, but the Nine-Tails in Naruto's body and Hinata Hyuga managed to escape. I then gave Hidan permission to use the _Jashin Succession Technique_ on the pink-haired girl, and together we took the man with demonic eyes to Orochimaru, who professed a desire to wield the Sharingan when he assisted me with the trap I set to lure _**My Chosen Vessel**_ into my grasp. Orochimaru then took over Sasuke Uchiha's body; between Sasuke losing an arm and Orochimaru regaining both of his, he had a rather sizable advantage. When that was done, Orochimaru asked me to join the cult of Jashinism, the last hope for _chaos_ in the world he has. Then we arrived here. Satisfied?"

After several seconds of silence, the Frost Daimyo eventually replied:

"… No. In fact, you've proven yourself to be a fraud!"

The Frost Daimyo shook his head and raised his arms in the air. "The real Lord Jashin wouldn't have allowed a _pretender god_ like Orochimaru to use someone else's body in _His Divine Presence!_ Only Lord Jashin and His followers have the _Divine Permission!_ So tell me now… Tell me where Lord Jashin is or I will destroy Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno where they stand."

"Your god is dead." Sasuke falsely interjected as he stepped forward. "I destroyed him completely, _down to the very soul_ , in the Shinigami's dimension."

The Frost Daimyo took a step back, partially in denial, and partially in anticipation of what was to come. "I don't believe you… Lord Jashin doesn't lose!"

"That's what Jashin said too." Sasuke remarked as he approached again, his eyes narrow. "I can show you what happened with my eyes… huh?"

Sasuke doubled back in shock as the Frost Daimyo began rolling on the floor, laughing:

"It doesn't really matter whether Lord Jashin is alive or not! A true god doesn't even need to _exist_ to have power… if enough people worship him! Gods are not measured by the strength of their bodies or the longevity of their minds… they are measured by the _**quantity and quality of their believers!**_ So long as I believe in Lord Jashin, and I make _the world_ believe in Lord Jashin, then his _**Divine Power**_ still has an influence… Yes. Perhaps this is what Lord Jashin the Second really meant in his prophecy… that Lord Jashin would become truly divine once all traces of his mortal being are erased from existence… leaving behind only the hearts and minds of the people He's inspired. To have power despite not existing at all… That is when one truly becomes a _**god!**_ "

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Karin asked, her head wracked with confusion. "Jashin the Second left a _**prophecy?!**_ "

"Yes… it was spoken aloud to me and my fellow original followers, and then recorded in the second-to-last chapter of _The Way of Jashin!_ First, the sons of Lord Jashin and Usurper Kagura would die together as the sacrifice for Lord Jashin's revival! Second, Lord Jashin would revive at the time when the Uzumaki clan faced their darkest hour! Third, Lord Jashin would evolve into a truly divine being! Fourth, Lord Jashin would claim the body of the heir to the Kagura Dynasty and with it, his birthright as Clan Leader! And once all prerequisites were complete, Lord Jashin would unite the entire world underneath him as God, infecting the souls of the entire world with his will! … And I, as _Keeper of His Holy Grail_ , would lead the revolution! I admit I was confused as to how I would lead the revolution yet remain a follower of Lord Jashin… but now I know! I thought Lord Jashin would _literally_ possess the heir to the Kagura Dynasty… but that was a mistake! The one to take over your body, _**Karin Uzumaki the Second…**_ is me! I may have begun the revolution early, but I have _more_ than enough time to ensure you are mine before the _Fifth Ninja World War_ begins in earnest!"

"This _revolution_ you're talking about… are you referring to this?" Sakura asked as she took out the scroll addressed to the Fire Daimyo. "You tried to make Lord Fire Daimyo lose trust in us… Rob us of missions…"

The Frost Daimyo grinned manically as he rolled to face Sakura. "That's not all, my dear! I've got another bird with a similar message headed to the Land of Lightning as we speak… Can you believe the Fourth Raikage _**tried to kill me**_ in front of over a dozen witnesses?! I doubt the Lightning Daimyo would approve of any more missions coming the Cloud's way if he heard about that. I doubt you can catch that bird before it arrives at its destination…"

In his insane tirade, the Frost Daimyo stood up and furrowed his brow:

"Then again… I could just stop you here and make sure you don't even get the chance. _**Kaboom!**_ "

The Frost Daimyo anticipated the blood on Sasuke and Sakura would explode and kill the two, but to his surprise, nothing happened. He immediately dropped his jaw in confusion:

"Where's the Kaboom?! There's supposed to be a body-shattering Kaboom!"

"Now you get why I used the genjutsu." Sasuke remarked as he bit his thumb and summoned a hawk, small enough to fit inside the Frost Daimyo's main hall yet large enough for Sasuke to stand on its back, right in front of him. Then Sasuke leaped on to the hawk's saddle-less back and continued:

"Cancelling the genjutsu forced you to disrupt your chakra flow and end your Curse Transformation pre-maturely. Karin sensed you transform and use the Transformation Jutsu before we got here, so we knew from the start what you'd try. Garuda, fly to the opposite end; we'll catch that letter in no time. Ladies… have fun."

Sasuke then saluted with a smirk as Garuda took off for the eastern gate.

"Oh no you don't!"

The Frost Daimyo dropped to the ground in an attempt to lick the floor. Unfortunately for him, he found himself wrapped in chains before his mouth could reach. He looked up at Karin on instinct and noticed there were several chains coming out of her right arm. "So you've mastered the _Adamantine Sealing Chains…_ Impressive! Just what I'd expect of _**Lord Jashin's Chosen Vessel!**_ Such a powerful and beautiful body… to think it is destined to be mine!"

"I've been getting that _a lot_ lately." Karin yawned. "And I'm getting _real_ tired of it. If we didn't need you to talk I'd shut you up right now."

"In that case… _**GUARDS!**_ "

The thirteen Frost ninja in the dining room responded to the Frost Daimyo's call. They raced down to the main hall and within seconds were rushing at Karin. Before any of them could reach her, however, Sakura ran between Karin and the Frost ninja and punched two of them square in the abdomen, one with each fist. The force of the impact smashed them clean across the northern hall, knocking into all eleven others and hitting the gate at the end of the hall. All thirteen Frost ninja lost consciousness at once as the palace shook from the power in Sakura's fists.

"That takes care of the back-up." Sakura quipped as she turned to face Karin and the Frost Daimyo once more. "Now you'll… oh no…"

Sakura froze in place, having felt a drop of blood hit the top of her head. Her fears were made real when she saw blood dripping down from the ceiling right above the Frost Daimyo, who expectantly opened his mouth wide and stuck out his tongue. Before Karin could react with another chain, one drop fell into the Frost Daimyo's mouth, and the next instant his skin turned black with white skeletal markings.

"I knew you'd shake this place up enough to make the blood on the ceiling fall…" the Frost Daimyo chuckled as he put his focus behind him, toward Sasuke, who was almost at the end of the eastern hall. "Ka-"

His command was unceremoniously cut off by yet another chain, this one piercing his tongue. He looked over to Karin once more and found a chain coming from her left hand in addition to the ones from her right arm.

Karin approached the restrained Frost Daimyo, leaning close to her captive with a wicked smile on her face, mere inches away from the Daimyo's own. "I said we needed you to talk, but honestly, we don't _need_ your mouth to get your info. Sasuke can just read your mind when he gets back."

And with that, Karin pressed her left index and pinky fingers on the Frost Daimyo's temples, clogging the Tenketsu Hidan used to control his blood. "And now you can't interfere before he does."

To Karin's horror, however, the Frost Daimyo kept smiling at her, and it wasn't until she looked towards Sasuke again that she understood why.

The blood on the floor and walls was attacking Sasuke - who managed to just barely avoid each assault atop Garuda's back - as even more blood piled on to the gate in the shape of a spider's web.

"No… I blocked the Tenketsu in your temples!" Karin protested in disbelief, looking back down at the enemy in front of her.

The Frost Daimyo mentally mocked Karin's efforts to subdue him. _The temples are just a_ _ **novice's**_ _tool to control blood… a master can use_ _ **any chakra point in the body!**_

 _Is this Jashin's doing?_ Sasuke thought as he continued dodging the pellets of blood. _It doesn't matter right now: I have to get through this web of blood without getting a speck on Garuda and me… The only way to do that is to bore a hole through it big enough for Garuda and me to fly through… That's it!_

Upon concluding his thoughts, Sasuke conjured a purple chakra shroud to cover himself and Garuda, coalescing into a shared suit of Susano'o armor. A purple bow then manifested in Sasuke's hand, spinning rapidly as Sasuke's hand opened up into a cannon. Blue Lightning chakra began forming a readied arrow coming from the spinning bow, while bright orange Fire chakra seeped out from Sasuke's hand cannon, enveloping the arrow in a spiral of flame.

" _ **Asura Path: Indra's Revolving Arrow!**_ "

Sasuke fired the arrow of fire and lightning straight at the centre of the web of blood at a velocity so fast even he had difficulty keeping track of it. The arrow pierced right through the centre and penetrated the massive double doors behind it. The lightning spread along the web of blood, guiding the fire from the centre outward in every direction. Contact with the fire caused the blood on the door to detonate in several explosions, taking out the web of blood and the entire door moments before Sasuke arrived. Garuda flew out of the Daimyo's palace with Sasuke on his back, with Susano'o shielding them from the blast and fading shortly before they did from Karin's vision.

 _No… Sasuke Uchiha… can force a blood detonation without Blood Style?!_ The Frost Daimyo thought in disbelief, sweating as his former grin left his face.

"What's wrong, _Daimyo?_ " Karin teased as she flicked his forehead with her left middle and ring fingers, shutting down a pair of Tenketsu she sensed him use to control the blood moments earlier. "Surely you already know all blood used in Blood Style is _magnetized_. So lightning can run through it to make its piercing power go through the roof, _supercharged…_ at the cost of making it _totally unstable!_ After that the slightest adverse reaction is enough to make it go _**BOOM!**_ " she shouted for emphasis, "like impact with a Tailed Beast's vital organs… or _Rinnegan-powered Fire Style jutsu._ "

Sakura started dashing in their direction. "Karin, get back!"

The Uzumaki nodded and jumped back several feet, releasing her hold on the Frost Daimyo and retracting all her chains. The Frost Daimyo stumbled for a brief second trying to recover his balance, but Sakura reached his position and chopped his head clean off using the Chakra Scalpel before he could react. Karin caught the Frost Daimyo's severed head as the headless body, unable to control itself, lost balance and fell on to the ground.

"As long the head's separate from the body, none of the Tenketsu outside the head can be accessed. And just in case…" Sakura picked up the Frost Daimyo's headless body with one arm and tossed it into the pit in the centre of the room, "… now the head and the body can't reconnect."

"Good thinking, Sakura!" Karin said as she cradled the Frost Daimyo's head in her right arm. Then she pointed at the Frost Daimyo's head from above with her left hand and looked down straight in to the Daimyo's terror-filled eyes. "As for you… If I sense the chakra in your head act up again I'll shoot that Tenketsu _cold_."

Just then, Karin suddenly closed her eyes and sweetly smiled at the severed head. "But as long as you're nice to _us_ , I'll be nice to _you_. When Sasuke gets back, we'll even make sure you learn the full truth about Jashin and that 'prophecy' before you die."

After suffering such a complete and utter defeat, the Frost Daimyo had only one thought on his mind, which he kept repeating over and over:

 _Please help me, Lord Jashin!_


	62. Chapter 61: Sacrifice

Karin gazed down into the eyes of the head she cradled in her right arm, leaning against a wall facing where the eastern gate used to be before Sasuke obliterated it. "You haven't been acting up at all, Daimyo! I'm surprised; I was _sure_ you'd try to put up more resistance… Men that don't try are _no fun._ "

"Karin, look up! It's Sasuke!" said Sakura, who was pointing at the eastern gate from where she stood, between the pit in the centre of the floor and the northern hallway so she could monitor the thirteen unconscious Frost ninja and look for Sasuke's return simultaneously.

Karin did as instructed and immediately noticed Garuda flying through the opening on the east end with Sasuke atop his back holding a scroll. A few moments later, Garuda landed a few feet away from the pit and Sasuke disembarked from his battle summon, cancelling him as soon as he reached the floor.

"Sakura, Karin, I have the…"

Sasuke froze as he noticed the Frost Daimyo's head in Karin's arms.

"What's the matter, Sasuke?" Karin asked as she walked up to him. "It's not like you to be squeamish seeing a severed head!"

"Where's the _rest_ of him?"

"Down that hole in the floor." Sakura interjected as she approached the others. "The Frost Daimyo attacked you even after Karin sealed his temples."

"So you cut off as many Tenketsu as you could all at once." Sasuke inferred.

Sakura shook her head, and then turned to face the unconscious Frost ninja. "That's not all! He called reinforcements, and I took all thirteen of them out at once. All of them are still alive too!"

"Good… We might be able to make it through this without any casualties." Sasuke replied, looking at the Frost Daimyo's head intently. "Sakura, heal this head so he can talk. Karin, tie all the others up so they don't interfere in our interrogation."

"Got it!"

Karin tossed the Frost Daimyo's head to Sakura, who caught it with both hands. As soon as Sakura completed the catch, Karin ran to the northern hall.

Sakura placed the Frost Daimyo's head gently on the floor, preparing to heal it. "Are you sure about this, Sasuke? He might not react any differently than Hidan did…"

"How he reacts is _his_ decision, not ours." Sasuke objected as he kneeled down next to Sakura, his eyes focused on the Daimyo. "And he has a right to know the truth either way."

"You're right. Sorry."

Without further delay, Sakura finished healing the Frost Daimyo's head and he could speak once more:

"… help me, Lord Jashin! Please he-"

"At this point I'm sure Jashin isn't going to come to your rescue." Sasuke interrupted, staring down at the talking head and holding the scroll addressed to the Lightning Daimyo out so the Frost Daimyo was looking squarely at it. "And this message is never reaching its destination."

At that moment, the Frost Daimyo began laughing:

"So that plan was foiled… Ha ha ha… it doesn't matter! Lord Jashin the Second's prophecy is _**iron-clad!**_ The time it becomes reality just hasn't happened yet!"

"You won't be saying that after you've learned what _we_ did about your 'god'." Karin interjected, calmly walking back to the others' position with her arms crossed. She had finished restraining all the Hidden Frost ninja in _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ and took extra precautions for the six with Curse Energy. "By the way, Sasuke… one of the Frost ninja over there had the same chakra as that guy that was around our prison cell in the Hidden Cloud."

"That confirms my suspicions. Thank you, Karin." Sasuke smirked. "This Daimyo had a mole in the Hidden Cloud Village, and they were eavesdropping on us."

Sakura and Karin gasped in unison at the revelation.

"That's why I didn't sense anyone with Curse Energy when we flew past here on our way to the Hidden Sand!" Karin said. "You knew I was coming and _hid underground_ to avoid detection!"

"And here I was going to have that man receive Fuzai's body… What _delicious_ irony that would have been." the Frost Daimyo chuckled before promptly stopping. "Wait a minute! You were going to tell _**me**_ some sort of truth, yet _**I'm**_ the one revealing secrets! I demand to know this _**truth**_ at once!"

"Then let's dispel all the illusions you've been under since we came here, one at a time." Sasuke said. "Starting with that genjutsu I put you in; I recall you saying you were unsure why you were placed in it."

"Yes, I did say something to that effect… Tell me why, now!"

"You believed those four Frost ninja that came in with us exploded like in the genjutsu, because their bodies disappeared and we were covered in blood." Sakura explained. "But that _in itself_ was an illusion. You were caught in the genjutsu _before_ you triggered the explosion, so in reality it never went off. While you were in the genjutsu, we knocked out the four Frost ninja with us and took their bodies outside the palace, where Karin tied them up. Then we covered ourselves in _our own blood_ to make it look like the explosion still occurred. It was a simple matter of Sasuke and me taking turns cutting and healing. Even if Karin's Jashin impersonation failed and you transformed again, you couldn't blow us up anyway since the blood on the floor wasn't on us to begin with! Cha!"

"I ended that genjutsu within seconds!" the Frost Daimyo objected. "You would not have had the time to accomplish that _magic trick!_ "

"That's just how you perceived things." Sasuke added. "The genjutsu you were placed in was no ordinary one; it was a _Tsukiyomi_."

"Tsukiyomi?! You mean, like _Infinite Tsukiyomi_?!"

"It's nowhere near that powerful, but there are similarities. In particular, Tsukiyomi allows one to alter a target's _perception of time._ Big Brother used it to inflict three days of torture on his opponents in a matter of seconds. I did the opposite; what seemed like _seconds_ to you were actually _minutes_ in reality. That's the extent of my own Tsukiyomi's time altering capability. Nothing compared to Itachi's… but it gave us enough time to pull off our stunt."

"Why go to such lengths?" the Frost Daimyo asked. "You wasted energy to avoid the elimination of your enemies… It would have been easier just to let me destroy them before you…"

"But then they would have become a _sacrifice._ " Karin said. "Nothing hurts more than learning that someone you trusted and devoted your life to _didn't even care_ when you poured your heart out to them. That they wouldn't hesitate to _get rid of you_ the moment you became the _slightest_ burden to them. I've experienced that first-hand… It's fucking _**unbearable**_ is what it is! It's such a terrible feeling that I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone. Not that team of Frost ninja and not you either! That's why we saved them!"

The Frost Daimyo raised an eyebrow. "Not me either? What do you mean? I'm no one's _**sacrifice!**_ "

"That's where you're wrong." Sasuke replied. "Allow me to dispel the next illusion… When I told you that Jashin was dead, _I lied._ I was trying to demoralize you, make you slip up during the upcoming fight. It was psychological warfare and nothing more, though it seemed to have the opposite effect than intended. The truth, for you anyway, is _worse_ than that."

"Worse… Something could be worse than Lord Jashin's demise? Don't fool yourselves. Nothing could delight _more_ than seeing Lord Jashin face to face for the first time ever! That My Lord is still alive is only good news!"

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "First time ever… that's another _illusion._ "

The Frost Daimyo's head squirmed. Sasuke and Karin nodded to confirm her words.

"By the time you met Jashin the Second, Jashin himself used the _Jashin Succession Technique_ to steal his son's body." Sakura continued. "You, and the _whole cult_ for that matter, thought you were talking with Jashin Uzumaki _the Second_ , when it was Jashin Uzumaki _the First_ the whole time."

"Then what does that make Lord Jashin the Second's prophecy?!" the Frost Daimyo asked, overwhelmed with disbelief. "If Lord Jashin was in control of His Son's body when he told it to me, then…"

"Exactly. that prophecy _wasn't a prophecy in the first place._ "

The weight of Sasuke's words fell on the Frost Daimyo completely and utterly, the severed head's eyes going blank as he foamed at the mouth in terror. Without waiting for a response, Sasuke continued:

"Jashin's son wasn't receiving _divine messages_ about the future from his ascended father or anything like that. Jashin's son was actually Jashin himself, and _made up_ a 'prophecy' as a means to _manipulate_ you and the rest of his would-be followers into doing his bidding. Jashin may have promised you that you would take over the world, but from the very beginning you were nothing more than a _tool_ to him, no more valuable than anyone else he'd casually destroy without a second thought. He _used_ you, and now that you've stopped being useful to him, he's _thrown you away_."

"You don't know that! Lord Jashin may be coming to save me right this second!"

"Actually… I _do_ know that. I got my proof when I learned it was _you_ who tried to keep me from leaving this castle earlier."

The Frost Daimyo gasped. "You mean that Lord Jashin… is _**already here?!**_ "

Karin stomped her feet next to the Daimyo's head. " _ **No shit**_ , old man! When Sasuke said he defeated Jashin in the Shinigami's dimension, he was telling the truth! The only part he lied about was Jashin dying; he survived the battle and was freed from the Shinigami along with everyone else! And where the fuck do you suppose his soul _went_ , if not into your body or Hidan's?!"

"His Holy Grail…"

Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura all solemnly nodded in confirmation.

"Then Lord Jashin could have communicated with me _any time_ I drank from His Holy Grail today… He could have _warned_ me… could have _assisted_ me… could have _saved_ me… Yet he did _**ABSOLUTELY**_ _**NOTHING!**_ "

At that moment, the Frost Daimyo began crying bloody tears, consumed entirely by despair.

"That's how much you're worth to Jashin right now." Sasuke said. "Now that you know… what will you do with that information?"

The Frost Daimyo, amidst his tears, began to smile. "What I will do, you ask? If the prophecy I came to believe in was a smokescreen fabricated to use me, then I shall have my _revenge_ the only way fitting… I will make that prophecy **REAL!** I will work to erase all traces of Lord Jashin's mortal existence! But as I am a mere talking head, my options are limited… I have no choice but to ask for _your co-operation!_ If you destroy Lord Jashin once and for all on my behalf, I'll recant those scrolls in your possession and free everyone upstairs with no hassle!"

"Only if you publicly confess to all your crimes. Karin and I are prepared to revoke our pardons whether or not you're willing to _pretend_ we didn't intercept your letters. It's only fitting you come clean too… After all, you'd be violating the _Fifth Commandment of Jashin_ if you didn't, Daimyo."

"His Fifth Commandment… ' _Thou Shalt Take Credit for All Thine Massacres'…_ I was going to go public with every crime I ever committed once I became _The One and Only King_ and had enough power to ensure I would never get punished for them, as the Fifth Commandment does not say _when_ to take credit, only that you _do_ … But now I cannot afford to be so lax. To fulfil my revenge, I must follow the _**spirit**_ of the _Ten Commandments of Jashin_ along with the letter! I will even assist you in your endeavour!"

"Assist us how?" Sakura asked.

"I shall recount to you everything that transpired here since before dawn, beginning with that Jugo fellow bumping his head on a tree after losing control of his flight!"

 _That must have been when Gyuki died… So he reacted like Kurama did…_ Sasuke thought.

"Make sure you tell us exactly when everyone drank blood from the Holy Grail when you do!" Karin said. "That way, if Jashin's taken someone else's body already, we might have an idea whose it is!"

"Very well… I'll do just tha- _**AGGHHH!**_ "

The Frost Daimyo was cut off by his own scream, and he started coughing up blood.

Sakura looked down at the elderly head's coughing fit. "Lord Daimyo!"

"Get back!" Karin screamed as she unfolded her arms and shot a chain at the Frost Daimyo's tongue from where she stood. "He's going to blow!"

"What?!" Sakura cried in disbelief.

Sasuke instinctively grabbed Sakura and jumped out of the way, giving Karin space to disarm the Frost Daimyo. The next moment, the chain hit its mark and seemingly stopped the impending destruction. As soon as Karin retracted her chain, she started pacing and whispering to herself in confusion:

"What is right … Trying to explode right after promising to help us? The fuck was going on in ol' Daimyo's head?! Is it possible? He did have to lie about his loyalties and identity for over a century…"

Her thoughts were distracted after a few dozen steps, however, when she sensed something peculiar.

Peculiar and horrifying.

"Oh god!"

Karin faced the Frost Daimyo's severed head while she screamed and tried to throw out more chains. But mere moments before she reached the Daimyo, his entire head exploded in a fountain of his own blood. On reflex, Karin did a back-flip to distance herself from the blast. Opposite to her, Sasuke got between the Frost Daimyo and Sakura and stretched out his hand, absorbing the very edge of the explosion.

When the explosion cleared, Sasuke noticed a black wisp with white skeletal markings in the centre. The moment he saw it, he knew exactly what it was:

"The Frost Daimyo's soul… It's been forcibly ejected from his body…"

"Then he can't talk to us!" Sakura inferred.

"Can you… still use the Human Path to read his mind, Sasuke?" Karin asked as she slowly walked over to Sasuke and Sakura.

"No… the Rinnegan only lets me _see_ disembodied spirits, not _touch_ them. I'd need _Six Paths Sage Mode_ to use the Human Path on a mind with no body. Or the Shinigami providing a substitute for physical energy in the target … So _that's_ what happened!"

Sasuke smacked his own forehead as he began sweating at the revelation. "Jashin… _**Jashin**_ detonated the Frost Daimyo's head before he could leak anything valuable to us! He _paid attention_ when I took the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror off Big Brother's hands! He didn't have his sight by then, but his other senses must have tipped him off to how the Human Path works… Jashin really _did_ take his defeat to heart! Karin, did you sense anyone's chakra acting up in the higher floors?!"

"Sorry, Sasuke…" Karin bowed her head in shame, letting her arms fall to her sides. "I was caught off-guard by the Frost Daimyo's head exploding after I already sealed off his tongue… I wasn't paying attention to the chakra upstairs! I don't know where the Daimyo's head was being detonated from! … Dammit…"

Karin then started crying, looking at the ceiling in discontent with herself. "I could have learned who Jashin took over and _**I fucking blew it!**_ "

"It's not your fault." Sakura said, stepping past Sasuke and embracing Karin in her arms. Karin felt Sakura's hug and relaxed herself in Sakura's hold, but kept her gaze skyward, focusing her _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ on the seven people she sensed on the floor above. "Jashin _sacrificed_ the Frost Daimyo to avoid exposing himself, and did so in a way to specifically let down your guard…"

"That's what stings about it… I told the Frost Daimyo I didn't want any more sacrifices… and one was made right in front of my eyes. And I could have _prevented it_ if I was just a little more observant!"

Sasuke approached the women before him. "There's still something you can do. We can't undo the past, but at least we can make sure the Frost Daimyo didn't die as only a sacrifice… There's something you can do to make sure his will lives on beyond what Jashin forced on him."

A glimmer of hope returned to Karin's eyes. "There is?"

"Yes… This is something only you can do. Come on… Let's clean up outside while we discuss what I have in mind."

[X-X-X]

"What the hell's going on down there?!" Tenten shouted in protest from her seat at the dinner table. "The Daimyo and the Frost ninja haven't come back up and it's been half an hour!"

"People are coming to our rescue, most likely." C explained. "Down on the ground floor, I sensed the chakra of Sasuke Uchiha, Karin Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno… And I sensed the Frost Daimyo's chakra disappear about ten minutes after they arrived."

Jugo smiled. "Then Sasuke's team won."

"We don't know that for sure." A objected. "For one thing, if the Frost Daimyo's chakra really did disappear, then _**WHY ARE WE STILL BOUND TO OUR SEATS BY BLOOD?!**_ "

Darui looked at his food in shame. "This turned out so dull… My first mission as Raikage was a total failure… Sorry, everybody…"

"Don't beat yourself up over it so much…" Fuzai said. "You just failed to notice the Frost Daimyo tricked us all. Compared to _my_ mistakes, that's nothing…"

"We _all_ failed, Fuzai-kun…" Nodan sombrely stated. "Hidan… If I had been a more supportive father, what would you be doing now? …"

Suddenly, C's eyes widened. "It's Sasuke Uchiha and the others! They're coming up here!"

Everyone turned their eyes towards the door that the Frost Daimyo exited from in exhilaration at the prospect that they could be saved. Just as C sensed, in due time Sasuke entered the room, followed by Karin, with Sakura at the rear. In spite of C's expectations, however, the first thing the three of them did was not free him and the six others from their bindings. Instead, they stood opposite them and surveyed the room, not addressing the captives immediately.

"Uchiha! What are you doing here?!" A demanded.

"We're here to save you, of course." Sasuke answered as he focused his attention on the goblet in a far corner of the room next to a large gourd, a silver serrated sword, and a golden rope. "And as for that question you screamed earlier… well, let me answer that as straightforwardly as I can. Since the Frost Daimyo was killed a little while ago, _Jashin's_ been controlling the blood binding you all."

" _ **JASHIN?!**_ " everyone who was seated yelled in bewilderment.

"But didn't you defeat Jashin and save Karin?" Jugo asked.

"Jashin was defeated, but he wasn't destroyed." Sakura explained, facing everyone. "When Sasuke defeated Jashin and freed everyone from the Shinigami's dimension, Jashin's soul escaped… into the Holy Grail."

Nodan's eyes went blank with shock at the implications. "Then…"

"Yes… Jashin might have taken over _any one of you._ " Sasuke continued. "He could have also taken over no one, or he could have taken over _all_ of you. The only thing we know for sure is that Jashin's soul is somewhere in this room, and inside a body. I didn't see his soul anywhere with my Rinnegan on the way up, so his soul must be somewhere my Rinnegan can't see it."

He paused to glance over at Jugo. "That also means that right now, I can't trust anything any of you say. Not even you, Jugo… The seven of you may have prepared a cover story and repeated it enough times to bypass the one ability I _can_ trust right now. I assume it needs no introduction to any of you."

He turned to look at Karin, who was standing between himself and Sakura. She promptly smiled and waved to the crowd restrained by blood:

"Hi everybody!"

"So you're going to have Karin detect all of our lies… on your terms." Jugo inferred. "But isn't there a problem with that strategy?" _We learned from Orochimaru that Fuzai's immune to Karin's lie detector…_

"Of course there is, Jugo… it's this right here." Sasuke walked over to the Holy Grail and pointed at it, everyone's eyes trailing him. "There's a possibility Jashin hasn't left the Holy Grail yet. I'm going to deal with that right now."

Immediately following Sasuke's boast, he covered himself in a suit of purple chakra armour, complete with a shield at his back and a purple sword overlaying his normal one.

 _He's avoiding the real issue… That must mean he doesn't want Jashin to find out about it…_ Jugo thought.

Tenten's face turned red. "Those are the Totsuka Blade and Yata Mirror, aren't they?! Where did you get those weapons?! Please… Please tell me!"

Sasuke drew the spiritual sword with his right hand and pointed it at the Holy Grail. "If Jashin wants to stop me from sealing the Holy Grail in another dimension, he can tell you himself."

"Isn't this a little extreme?" Darui asked. "Why don't we just put it in Two Lights Valley instead?"

"Two Lights Valley isn't a safe place anymore. The living proof of that is sitting right next to you."

The Uchiha then gave Fuzai a cold stare. Fuzai responded with a faint smile:

"Sasuke's right about that, Darui. Lord Orochimaru and I were able to meet there in secret for a dozen years with no one from the village getting a clue."

"Now, let's see if all your bonds are released."

As Sasuke made his comment, he swung the Totsuka Blade at the Holy Grail, the golden goblet and the blood inside it spiralling into the gourd at the hilt. Once the entire gourd was secure within the Totsuka Blade, Sasuke dispelled the miniature Susano'o and diverted his focus to the table. Then he walked back to Karin's side:

"Still confined. So Jashin's soul is inside one of you after all."

"There were six others that were fed Jashin's blood, aside from us and the Frost Daimyo." Fuzai pointed out. "Couldn't Jashin have taken over one of them?"

Karin shook her head. "That's impossible. It was _Jashin_ who killed the Frost Daimyo! At the time it happened the six Frost ninja were tied up by my _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ , and I made sure to mess up their chakra flow as much as I could! If Jashin had taken over one of _their_ bodies, he wouldn't have been able to make the Daimyo's head go boom!"

"So it has to be one of you seven, as much as I hate to admit it…" Sakura concluded.

"Then it can't be Fuzai either!" Darui said. "His chakra control isn't good enough. You made sure of that yourself with the Five-Pronged Seal, Sasuke…"

Sasuke stroked his chin. "Good point. But just in case, we'll start with him… I've fought Jashin enough times to know not to take any chances with him."

"Start _**what**_ , Uchiha?" A asked with impatience.

"The part where I come in!" Karin shouted. "I'm going to ask each of you a simple yes or no question, you answer with a full sentence, and I'm going to try to detect for a lie. That way we can be sure who Jashin is no matter _**how**_ they respond!"

"So what question would that be?" Fuzai asked, shivering in anxiety.

Karin stared at Fuzai intently. "This is my question. Yes or no: are you the _man_ known as _Jashin?_ "

Everyone went quiet, partially out of anticipation for Fuzai's answer, and partially befuddled at how direct the question was.

After a few moments of deliberation, Fuzai gave an answer:

"Yes… Yes, I am the man known as Jashin."

All the others sitting at the table gasped, Darui the loudest of all, who could barely hold back his disbelief.

"So what's your reading, Karin?" Sasuke asked.

 _No… what are you thinking, Sasuke? Fuzai –_

Jugo's thoughts were interrupted when suddenly Karin shot several _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ out of her right arm, confining Fuzai in layers upon layers of them, so completely that the _Blood Prison_ binding him to the chair was no longer visible.

"Imagine that." Karin smirked. "Fuzai's _lying!_ "

Sasuke nodded upon the announcement and vanished before everyone's eyes, reappearing on top of Fuzai's dinner plate with his whole hand placed firmly on Fuzai's forehead.

"But if Fuzai's lying, then he can't be Jashin!" Darui protested, overwhelmed with panic.

"No, it means _just the_ _opposite._ " Jugo said. "It means that Fuzai is Jashin _without a doubt._ "


	63. Chapter 62: Absence of Lies

"How… _How_ could Fuzai be Jashin?!" Darui shouted. "The Five-Pronged Seal…"

"You think such a pitiful seal can hold _**a God?**_ "

Fuzai's voice was suddenly darker and prouder than before. Everyone looked in his, or rather, Jashin's direction. Darui was the first to speak after that:

"Then it's true… But I can still hardly believe it…"

"Jashin was a member of the _Uzumaki clan_ , Raikage." Sasuke said, his hand still on Jashin's forehead while he shifted his gaze to Darui. "And the Uzumaki were experts at _Sealing Jutsu._ "

"We thought that if Jashin took Fuzai's body, he'd be able to free himself from the Five-Pronged Seal." Sakura added.

"It must have been easy for you, wasn't it?" Jugo asked from the other side of Fuzai. "Compared to designing a seal to make _an entire room go back in time,_ undoing the Five-Pronged Seal would have been nothing…"

Sasuke narrowed his eyebrows. "A room that _goes back in time?_ "

"It's where I hid _**My Holy Grail**_ , of course!" Jashin answered in Jugo's place. "How do you suppose the late Frost Daimyo managed to paint this entire castle with my blood?"

Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura widened their eyes in comprehension. "Good. The looks on your faces mean I don't have to _explain_ that to the three of you." Jashin remarked.

"Making a room go back in time, though?" Sakura asked. "I've seen too many crazy things happen in this world to question whether or not it's possible, but to come up with _that_ to preserve your blood for the cult, when there were plenty of other ways of doing it, out of _thin air_ is-"

" _Izanami._ It didn't come out of thin air, Sakura; Jashin was inspired by _Izanami._ Isn't that right?"

Jashin chuckled. "As expected of an _Uchiha._ But Izanami is _**child's play**_ compared to the _Room of Cyclic Time._ Your clan could only go back in time through an _illusion_ ; I did it _**for real!**_ I could almost consider it _**My Fourth Mortal Miracle!**_ "

"So why _don't_ you?" Jugo asked. "Is it because you wanted to use the seal _only_ on the Holy Grail, and not on the entire room?"

"How fitting that you _of all people_ would bring that up." Jashin smirked, prompting Jugo to raise an eyebrow. "But yes, that was a flaw in its design. It was necessary that the area of effect be large enough that the chakra gathered by the seal was at least as much as the chakra needed to rewind time at the appropriate intervals…"

"I didn't sense the room gathering any chakra…" Jugo objected.

"Neither did I." C added.

Sakura pointed to her own forehead. "It's still possible though! I was able to store chakra for the _Hundred Strengths Seal_ at a very slow pace without anyone detecting it eith-" she then gasped at the sudden realization. "You did the same thing, didn't you?!"

"So _that's_ the source of your incredible strength. You analyzed the Senju clan's abilities and developed a way to copy their adamantine power and regeneration without hand seals via precise chakra control, _just like I had long ago._ "

"Combining the _imagination_ of the Uchiha and the _vitality_ of the Senju to _bend reality to your whim…_ " A sighed as he recalled Obito's declaration of the Fourth Ninja World War and his battle with Madara, "You're not the only one who tried it."

"I doubt anyone has come as close as _**I**_ have, however! Not that it matters anymore… I've been caught. Say, Sasuke, I'm aware that you're not likely to answer, knowing it's me, but… How did you do it? What convinced you that I was in this body?"

"You _**already know**_ , Jashin!" said Karin. "You lied. The question I asked you was set up so that if you really were Jashin and not Fuzai, _you'd be lying either way!_ If you said no, you'd be denying that your name was Jashin. And if you said _yes_ , then you'd be claiming that Jashin is _a man._ "

"We both know that at the core of your being, you identify yourself as _a god_ , not a man." Sasuke continued, staring straight into Jashin's eyes. "You figured that out, which is why you said yes; lying by saying you _are_ Jashin isn't nearly as damning as lying by saying you _aren't_ Jashin. And you couldn't very well point out that the question was _loaded_ without giving yourself away. Unfortunately for you, there's a piece to the puzzle you weren't aware of, and that's how we caught you."

"Fuzai's lies can't be detected. If Fuzai was in control, then no matter how he answered, Karin would have picked it up as _the truth._ " Jugo concluded.

Jashin's eye twitched. "Inconceivable! I've seen all of Fuzai's memories! I know everything about him!"

"Fuzai didn't know it _himself._ " Sasuke replied. "He and Orochimaru stopped making contact after the Chunin Exams four years ago."

"And it just so happens that Orochimaru didn't meet _**me**_ until the Forest of Death!" Karin added. "There was only _one month_ when Fuzai and I were both working for him!"

"That wouldn't have been nearly enough time to thoroughly study Karin's abilities." Sakura further added, "Especially not when he had the _Destruction of the Hidden Leaf_ project to plan."

"And after that, Fuzai and Karin were in contact only once." Jugo said. "And during that one time, well…"

"It _was_ strange that _My Chosen Vessel_ never called Fuzai out on any of his lies that day." Jashin recalled. "You _never attempted to._ Fuzai was not even aware _My Chosen Vessel_ _**could**_ detect lies."

At that moment, Jashin sighed and looked down, avoiding Sasuke's eyes. "Regardless… I concede. It's clear to me that I cannot defeat you as is, Sasuke Uchiha. Why don't you take away my soul the same way you acquired those spiritual weapons? Give me a little _karmic justice_ for all the times I've taken others' souls. Suigetsu, Itachi, Naruto… I'm sure they wouldn't blame you if you had your revenge _now._ "

It took a few seconds for Sasuke to respond, the room filling with dreadful silence all the while. Eventually, Sasuke grinned as he quickly removed his hand from Fuzai's forehead and stood straight up on the Frost Daimyo's dinner table:

"Is that what you think I am, Jashin? An avenger? You're only partially right. I _am_ an avenger… but I'm more than that." He briefly paused to put his hand on his chest, "I am Sasuke Uchiha, named after Sasuke Sarutobi. I'm also the last living member of the Uchiha clan; the second son of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, members of Team White Fang; the final reincarnation of Indra Otsutsuki, Elder Son of the Six Paths; a student of Kakashi Hatake and Orochimaru; member of Team Seven and commander of Team Taka, and an inheritor of the Original Akatsuki's will. The bonds I've formed, both past and present… I refuse to sever any of them."

"That was _quite_ the speech… but I fail to see the relevance to the situation at hand. Are you taking my soul away or not?"

"The relevance is… I made a promise to Fuzai. I told him that I'd make sure he doesn't die as long as I was around to prevent it. If I tried the Human Path to save Fuzai while you're in control, I might just _break that promise._ Who's to say you won't give control of Fuzai's body _back to Fuzai_ right before I use the Human Path? Then I'll take _Fuzai's_ soul instead of yours. I bet that's what you were _counting on_. No way am I going along with that. I'd risk killing Fuzai with my own hand."

"Then what are you going to do, Sasuke?!" Sakura asked in protest. "We can't just leave Jashin in control of Fuzai for the rest of his life!"

"Don't worry, Sakura. There's more than one way to remove a soul from a body."

Sasuke suddenly raised his arm to his shoulders and materialized a black rod from his palm. Then he aimed his arm down at Fuzai's body, and shot the black rod squarely into Fuzai's forehead:

"I'll have to apologize to Suigetsu for doing this, but it's the only way to save Fuzai from Jashin's control without risking his life in the process… taking control of Fuzai's body myself."

Sasuke made one hand sign, and then Jashin in Fuzai's body lost consciousness, his control disrupted by yet another intruder.

[X-X-X]

"Why are you siding with him?!" Fuzai screamed upward inside his mind, toward the figure he'd come to know intimately well during his time in prison.

Or so he thought until today.

" **I told you before: Jashin is** _ **just like me!**_ **We crave the same thing: the** _ **destruction of all that we hate!**_ **You were like that too, before that** _ **Uchiha brat**_ **got to your head and made you go soft! I'd never go free with** _ **you**_ **in constant control!** "

"See that, Fuzai? The Nine-Tails likes _me_ the most." Jashin laughed as he floated up and condescendingly pet the Nine-Tails on the head. "That's a _**good**_ little demon fox!"

The Nine-Tails bared his fangs at Jashin. " **Do not** _ **patronize**_ **me!** **Need I remind you that you** _ **killed**_ **me?! I crave the destruction of all I hate and that** _ **includes you!**_ **I'm only giving you control of this pup's body so that I can take it over** _ **myself**_ **and kick you out! You're** _ **both**_ **my enemies here!** "

Jashin playfully closed his eyes. "Keep telling yourself that."

Suddenly, the Nine-Tails' attention was caught by another presence and he looked away, to the far edges of Fuzai's psyche:

" **Someone's invading! And he has it** _ **bad**_ **for you, Jashin!** "

"I can feel it already, Nine-Tails." Jashin crossed his arms triumphantly as he deliberately looked away, down to Fuzai. "Take care of the invader at once. I'll make sure this runt doesn't interfere in your fight."

" **Such cowardice, asking me to fight your own battles for you…** **All the more reason to destroy you when I'm done with this trash.** "

And with that, the Nine-Tails began rushing toward what was now the fourth mind in Fuzai's following his opening sprint, he noticed something peculiar. A purple shroud of chakra burst from the invader's body, forming a tengu around the size of the Nine-Tails itself, with a sword in its left hand and a shield on its right. He recalled seeing this form once before, and couldn't help thinking back to it:

" **Indra…** **No one's used that technique since Indra… Who are you?!** "

"I'm… Indra's reincarnation, Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke responded as he flew at his opponent with Susano'o.

 _I see… this part of Kurama was split off before he met Madara… and Naruto. So he's still consumed by hatred. Jashin must be abusing that to make him work for him, keeping Fuzai's mind at bay. In that case, I need to free Kurama as well as Fuzai. To do that…_

Sasuke's thoughts concluded with a strategy and a question:

"Who are _**you**_ and what do _**you**_ want?!"

The Nine-Tails pounced at Sasuke, grabbing Susano'o's shoulders with both front claws. " **You don't know who I am?** _ **Insolent fool!**_ **I am the Nine-Tailed Fox,** _ **Malevolence Made Flesh!**_ **And my desire is to exterminate all of humanity!** "

At that moment, the Nine-Tails attempted to bite Susano'o's head. To his surprise, Susano'o did not move out of the way; it remained still and took the bite, which pierced into Susano'o but did not fully shatter it. Taking this opportunity, the Nine-Tails started to gather chakra in his mouth for a Bijuudama to blast Susano'o's head and Sasuke inside it, with enough power to force the intruder out of Fuzai's body.

"You're wrong."

Sasuke dissipated Susano'o and let himself fall on to Kurama's tongue. The apparent ceasefire startled Kurama, causing him to double back and fall. He now sat on his hind legs, and he lost his concentration long enough that the Bijuudama's charge went away while Kurama's mouth snapped shut on reflex.

Right before the mouth was completely closed, however, Sasuke leaped out of it, landed on the tip of Kurama's snout, and stuck to it with chakra as he walked along the snout and up to his left eye. Sasuke then turned away from Kurama's eye before continuing, to make it clear to Kurama that what followed was not a genjutsu: it was the truth.

"I've known you, the _majority_ of you anyway, for quite some time now. Your true wish… it's not destruction of all humanity, far from it. You were just angry with the world and lashed out at it because it wasn't giving you what you _really_ want more than anything. That… is love, the same kind of love that Hagaromo showed you when you were just created. You want someone to respect you and call you by your real name the way Hagaromo once did. Am I wrong in believing that?"

" **I… That desire died a long time ago!** "

"You know as well as I do that's not true… Kurama."

The fox's eyes widened with disbelief. " **Who… who told you my name?!** "

" _You_ did." Sasuke walked around Kurama's eye and to the top of his head. "You even demanded that I call you that."

Kurama closed his eyes and smiled, standing up. " **For** _ **Main Me**_ **to open up like that… It must have been true after all.** "

Sasuke stuck himself to Kurama as he stood. "What must have been true, Kurama?"

" **I'll tell you about it later. Right now there is someone we have to save.** " Kurama turned around and focused his gaze on Fuzai and Jashin. " **Fuzai being a prisoner within his own body for one day is one day too many.** "

"Let me help you with that."

Sasuke smirked as Kurama began running back, the purple chakra emerging once more.

[X-X-X]

On the other edge of Fuzai's psyche…

Jashin stomped on Fuzai's face, the rest of his consciousness tied down with _Adamantine Sealing Chains_. "Resistance is futile, _Silent Thunder!_ You might be stronger than you let on, but you're still a weakling before a _**God.**_ I admit that if the Nine-Tails joined forces with you, then you _might_ have a chance at driving me out… but that's why I coerced him into my service in the first place. Now each of you is on your own, and I can handle just one of you with ease."

"Why don't you just let my body go? Then you won't have to deal with the Nine-Tails, and Karin's the one you really want anyway…"

"There are many things you have yet to understand. Things mere mortals are _unable_ to understand." Jashin scolded, when suddenly he heard massive footsteps approaching them. "Nonetheless, the Nine-Tails must be fini… _**NO!**_ "

Jashin trembled the moment he saw what was approaching: the Nine-Tailed Fox covered in a case of Susano'o armour. Rather than drive Sasuke out, the Nine-Tails decided to co-operate with him. Jashin formed an _Adamantine Chain Goliath_ around himself, albeit significantly smaller than the one he used in the Shinigami's dimension, this one not much taller than Kurama himself were he to stand on his hind legs.

He tried to move both arms in the way to brace himself for the oncoming attack, but before the motion could be completed, Kurama made his way to heart of the construct – Jashin himself – and ripped it out with his front left claw. Immediately following that, Kurama threw Jashin into the air as Sasuke leaped up from Kurama's forehead, at such an angle that Jashin and Sasuke would intersect with Jashin's back to Sasuke.

"Get out of Fuzai's body now!"

Sasuke outstretched his fingers, focused chakra into them as is, and then closed his hand into a fist, covering it in a layer of blue lightning. The instant Jashin heard the chirping of a thousand birds he turned himself around in midair, and as soon as he finished the motion Sasuke's fist met Jashin's face, blue lightning erupting from the other side of Jashin's head.

Jashin's soul promptly began to dissolve, starting with the head and moving down and out, ending with the tips of his limbs, into a flash of white light that faded into nothingness along with the _Adamantine Chain Goliath_ and the chains restraining Fuzai. When the flash ended, Kurama caught Sasuke during his fall, and then placed him next to Fuzai, who stood up in wonder at what he just witnessed.

"Sasuke… thank you so much! I don't think I could have ever been free again if it weren't for you…" Fuzai then looked at Sasuke closely and stroked his goatee. "So you really did get taller as the Hokage's letter said."

Sasuke's expression darkened. "There's no time for that, Fuzai. There's something very important I have to tell you."

[X-X-X]

Outside, the blood binding Jugo, Tenten, Nodan, and the Hidden Cloud Ninja to their seats loosened. The moment it happened, everyone except for Fuzai felt the grip waning and got out of their seats, feeling compelled to move and stretch. A and C went to the corner of the room to collect the _Treasured Tools of the Six Paths._ As for everyone else…

Tenten leaped into Jugo's arms. "We're free!"

"Yes…" Jugo smiled down at her, hugging back.

"Tenten…" Sakura looked at their embrace, dumbfounded.

"… and Jugo?" Karin followed suit.

Tenten glared at the other women from under Jugo's arms. "Like _either_ of you have the right to question my tastes!"

"That's not right…" Jugo objected. "Sasuke and Suigetsu are both remarkable men… I can vouch for that…"

Tenten's eyes went blank with shock in reaction to Jugo's comment, and Karin and Sakura giggled.

"Excuse me, Lady Karin, Sakura…"

Both were startled by Nodan's voice and swiftly turned around to face the man. "Yes?!" They yelled in unison.

"It's just that you two were at the Hidden Whirlpool Village, and Sasuke is occupied right now, so I wanted to ask… Do you know what happened to my son, Hidan?"

"Hidan…" Sakura looked away, biting her lip in apprehension.

Karin struggled to keep eye contact with the man in front of her, sombrely looking back on Hidan. "Your son… He killed my mother…"

"I know what my son did…" Nodan looked down in shame, tears starting to form in his eyes. "I'm to blame for all of it… The death of your mother, Lady Kagura… His joining Akatsuki and Jashinism… His murder of Asuma Sarutobi… I saw my son become a monster and I did nothing to stop him!"

Karin calmly shook her head. "Hidan wasn't a monster. It's not one I agree with, but Hidan had his own Ninja Way, and he lived and died believing in it completely. A _monster_ has no faith in anything, destroying for no reason at all."

"So you're willing to _forgive_ my son?" Nodan asked as he dried his tears with his hands.

"Forgive… I don't know about that. I need more time." Karin crossed her arms and looked away, then looked into Nodan's eyes again with renewed vigour. "But I do _understand_ him. And I think he'd want you to see him one more time before he's gone for good. At least to share his despair with you…"

"Gone for good? What do you mean?"

"Sasuke had to pull Hidan's soul out of his body to read his mind." Sakura interjected. "Now Hidan is a ghost haunting the Hidden Whirlpool Village, unable to leave until the time limit for _Jashin's Ceremonial Killing_ expires. We… left his body there."

"Are you saying I should give my son a proper burial? While he'll be able to see me? … It won't actually accomplish anything though…"

"Captain Yamato once told me that it isn't the magnitude of the actions you do for others that matters, it's the meaning you put into them. It doesn't matter how small or large the action is; if you show deep down that you care for Hidan, then those feelings will reach him. I guarantee it."

"Of course… Thank you both."

Nodan bowed in gratitude.

"There's something else you can do… um…" Karin bashfully smiled and lightly punched herself in the head. "Sorry… I don't know your name!"

The Head Ninja stood up from his bow. "Nodan."

"Right. Nodan… My cousin, Naruto, wants to write a book about me. He was thinking of naming the villain Hidan as a memorial to him. Would you be… okay with that?"

"In a way, Hidan would be immortalized as a villain in the eyes of the world… I think it's precisely what Hidan would want." Nodan nodded. "I'll have to speak with his mother and inform her of the idea, but you have my consent at least."

"I see… thank you." Karin smiled as she bowed. Then she quickly walked over to Sasuke and Darui, who were still with Fuzai. "Sasuke! How's Fuzai?!"

Sasuke held up the chakra rod he removed from Fuzai's forehead for Karin to see. "I just gave control back, but Fuzai isn't waking up…"

Karin promptly made a hand seal and focused on Fuzai's chakra with the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique:

"Good news, Sasuke! Fuzai's just suffering chakra exhaustion! His chakra is low, but it's stable. He just needs to sleep off whatever went down inside his head and he'll be back to normal!"

"So he's going to be alright?!" Darui asked ecstatically. Karin nodded with a smile.

"Karin, release Fuzai now." Sasuke commanded. "It's about time we _all_ got some rest. Let's head home and take on the trials that await us there."

Without a word Karin released her grip on Fuzai's body, letting him fall limp in his chair. Darui saw to lifting Fuzai, one arm under the fold in Fuzai's legs and one arm at his mid-back.

"Before we go, we should check the place one more time for Jashin's chakra." Sakura interjected. "Just in case his soul is still here somewhere…"

"Got it." Karin nodded. She proceeded to scan the entire palace and nearby area for any strange changes in chakra. "Nope, nothing unusual."

"I concur." C added, having strapped Kokinjo across his torso and picked up Shichiseiken. "I think it's safe for us to leave."

"Hold on." Jugo objected, pulling away from Tenten's hug. "What about the tunnels underneath?"

"That's right!" Sakura doubled back in bewilderment. "I threw the Frost Daimyo's headless body down there! Jashin could have possessed it and hid himself from Karin and C's sensing abilities!"

"I should go check on it then!" said Karin.

Sasuke shook his head. "Not on your own. If Jashin _is_ down there, he won't hesitate to try for your body. I'll go with you, just to be safe. I have more experience fighting Jashin than anyone else here."

"I'll keep watch from above in case something goes wrong." Jugo added.

"So will I." A also added. "Jugo and I would be the only ones fast enough to come to your aid if the need arose at any rate."

Karin turned her back to the group, flustered. "Thanks, guys…"

"Meanwhile, the rest of us should gather the Hidden Frost Ninja outside and free them from their bonds." Nodan stated. "We'll have to inform them what happened to their Daimyo."

"If we're splitting up, then we should have some way to communicate." Sakura bit her right thumb and pressed it on her left arm, conjuring three small white slugs with blue stripes. She handed one of them to Sasuke and another to Jugo, keeping one for herself. "Lady Katsuyu's fragments share a hive mind; they'll be able to share their information with each other. We can tell Lady Katsuyu what we know, and she can relay that info to the other groups. It's how the village was able to stay in contact when Nagato attacked."

"Good thinking, Sakura." Sasuke replied as he faced the door with Karin, Jugo, and A behind him. "We'll see you soon."

"Be careful, all of you! Cha!"

Sakura waved goodbye as Sasuke's team left the dining room and started down the stairs to the ground floor of the Frost Daimyo's palace.

When Sasuke, Karin, Jugo, and A arrived at the pit in the centre of the castle, all four of them stared down in to the abyss together for a brief moment before steeling themselves for what lie ahead.

"I suppose the quickest way is to just jump down…" Sasuke said.

"Come on, Sasuke! Odaka flies at altitudes way higher than this!" Karin replied as she excitedly hopped down the hole. "Don't keep me waiting!"

"Alright, Karin… I'm coming!"

Sasuke wound up for a jump, but unexpectedly, his arm was caught on something.

Or some _one_.

"Jugo… Let go of me! I need to follow Karin!"

Sasuke looked up into his friend's eyes. They were full of sorrow the likes of which he hadn't seen in Jugo since he'd first recruited him at the Northern Hideout.

Jugo cried as his grip on Sasuke tightened. "I'm sorry, Sasuke… I can't stop myself! My body won't listen to anything I tell it!"

"Heads up, to your left!"

A's voice was speaking, but Sasuke found that A had disappeared from the group's side. Using his Sharingan, Sasuke could barely make out A's visage farther away, shrouded in lightning, approaching him and Jugo incredibly fast with his arm out in a Lariat position.

 _A's trying to kill me, and Jugo's holding me down to give him an opening?! What the hell's happened to you two?!_

Sasuke brought up his Susano'o ribcage as quickly as possible to block the incoming attack. It shielded him from decapitation, but he was still knocked out of Jugo's grip, through the doorway he previously destroyed to intercept the letter to the Lightning Daimyo, and into the snow on the ground outside.

 _Jugo, A…_ _I have to get past you and get to Karin… Jashin's still around, controlling you! That's the only thing I can think of!_


	64. Chapter 63: Bloody Despair

Karin was falling down the hole under the Frost Daimyo's palace.

 _What's happening up there?_ _The Fourth Raikage's chakra got intense, and Sasuke's getting farther from me rather than closer? I should head back up and see what's going on…_

With that thought in mind, Karin turned herself around to face the top of the hole and shot a chain out from her torso, just long enough to reach the end of the vertical tunnel. Unfortunately for her, black spikes swiftly protruded from the walls of the tunnel above her and broke her chain, forcing Karin to continue plummeting.

 _What the fuck? Black Zetsu? … No, the spikes just look black because there's so little light down here! With poor lighting, blood looks black! And this chakra underneath me … I've never sensed it before! Jashin… that must be Jashin in the Frost Daimyo's body!_

Despite being cut off from Sasuke, Karin steeled herself for the battle ahead and turned to face the bottom once more. To save herself from the fall, Karin kicked the edges of the bottom of the tunnel and stuck to them with her chakra, then let go, landing without much trouble. The moment she landed, she looked in the direction of the chakra she sensed, but to her surprise she did not see the Frost Daimyo's body. Instead…

 _A pool of blood?_ _I see… Jashin must have used Full Body Transmutation to turn the Frost Daimyo's body into blood… But why? The fuck are you thinking?_

Just then, Karin gasped in shock and stumbled backward at the sight before her.

The pool of blood rose in the air and began contracting into a ball. Then it spun in place, accelerating with each passing second. In a panic, Karin tried to shoot a chain from her right hand at the centre of the orb of blood. It stopped the blood in place, but only for a brief moment before it continued spinning as if nothing occurred. Karin repeated this several times with the same result, and eventually collapsed from fatigue, sitting next to a side of the well in the centre of the room. The many battles Karin fought the previous two days were finally starting to catch up with her.

At the worst time, as she would soon find out.

Blood from the tunnel above came splashing down into the room, attracted to the spinning orb of blood and combining with it, making the orb steadily bigger. Eventually, once the mass of blood was large enough to fit a human inside, the blood slowed down its spinning and changed shape, growing two arms, then two legs, and finally a head. When the blood stopped its motion, it settled into the shape of a bald, naked, human man, with the only things that stood out to Karin as out of place - relatively speaking - were a crescent hole in the bottom of the head imitating a smiling mouth, and a pair of glowing, all-white eyes.

"Welcome to my cult's old convening hall. How nice of you to drop by of your own will… I am Lord Jashin, at last in a body _fit for a god._ " it said.

Karin started to laugh. "Is that form supposed to _intimidate_ me? Make me drop my guard so you can take my body more easily?"

"That depends…" Jashin replied, crossing his arms as he slowly approached. "What's your blood type?"

Karin shrugged with her eyes narrow. "That's none of your business."

"Oh, it's _indeed_ my business. You see, my body is entirely composed of my original blood. I'm _type O_ ; the universal donor. That's why everyone, regardless of blood type, acquires Blood Style and the Curse when they consume my blood. Right now I'm debating whether to take your body, or keep the one I have now… If you have type O blood, I'll take your body and reform it into what you see here."

Karin began to shiver. "And if I _don't_ have type O blood?"

"That's easy." Jashin's grin widened when he suddenly liquefied and reformed on top of Karin, with a finger pointed to her left temple. "I'll just _kill you right now._ "

The declaration made Karin start sweating; she had been so used to Jashin obsessively trying to steal her body that the thought that he didn't need it unnerved her.

"You're _shaking._ Am I supposed to take that as a no? That you don't have type O blood? And don't tell me you don't know it; you don't get experimented on by Orochimaru for three years without learning about your body's _every detail._ Jugo knows _**his**_ blood type, so you should know _**yours.**_ "

"How do you know that?!"

"I learned something back in _**My Holy Ground…**_ that the greatest weapon that a ninja can wield is _information_. So naturally, I try to collect as much of it as I can. When the Frost Daimyo and all your friends drank from _**My Holy Grail**_ , I connected with their minds and _read all their memories_."

"Bullshit. If you really did that, then you would have known Fuzai's lies couldn't be detected ahead of time!"

"Then why aren't you detecting my lie _right now?_ "

Karin froze with fear.

"You can't be this stupid… I even gave you a _hint_ when I explained the formation of the _Room of Cyclic Time_ just to make things fair…"

"No way…" Karin's eyes widened as the realization hit her. "Precise chakra control… you disrupted your chakra _on purpose…_ "

"To make a _show_ of lying in a body that's immune to lie-detection? _**Yes.**_ "

"Then your _surprise_ was staged too… You _practiced_ not knowing about Fuzai, when you knew all along because of Jugo's memories!"

"You're catching on… I even faked my shock when Sasuke came running into Fuzai's mind and punched me out of there to give the illusion things weren't going _all according to plan._ The lot of you were mere _**puppets**_ dancing to my strings!"

Jashin moved his face closer to Karin's so they were no more than an inch away. "Now we're _all alone…_ and I am more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

At that moment, Karin spat in Jashin's face and giggled.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Your face… I still can't get over it! You called this form _fit for a god_ , but you look like fucking _**Black Zetsu!**_ "

It was then that Karin grinned and recalled her discussion with Sasuke and Sakura before arriving in the Land of Frost. "You call yourself a god, but you were dancing to _Black Zetsu_ _'s_ strings the whole time… _he_ orchestrated your resurrection. Hell, Black Zetsu knew about the Rinnegan and _kept it a secret from you._ You were nothing more than a tool to him, that he was ready to throw away the moment you weren't useful anymore!"

"So Black Zetsu kept secrets from me…" Jashin paused to contemplate Karin's words. After a second or so, Jashin was now the one laughing. "Ho ho ho… There was something I hid from Black Zetsu as well, something I haven't told _anyone!_ This secret is so _**powerful**_ that if I were to reveal it to the world, _all conflicts would cease_ and _everyone would worship me…_ I only choose to keep it to myself because that outcome wouldn't be any _**fun.**_ "

 _There's no way… the truth? Jashin holds a secret that powerful? What the fuck could it be?!_ Karin thought.

"Now, your blood type." Jashin pressed his right finger against Karin's left temple. "You still haven't told me."

"…You're in luck. I have type O blood too… how else would you expect for everyone, _regardless of blood type_ , to be healed when they bite me and take a chunk of my flesh away?"

"That does make some amount of sense…"

Jashin suddenly relaxed his hold on Karin and stood up, placing his hands on his hips in triumph. "Very well, you are still _**My Chosen Vessel**_ after all. In that case … I'm going to need a rope."

[X-X-X]

After Sasuke's group rushed down to the centre of the ground floor, Sakura went to the northern hall, followed by Tenten, Nodan, C, and Darui carrying Fuzai, where the thirteen Hidden Frost ninja remained unconscious and bound by Karin's _Adamantine Sealing Chains_.

"Hey… where did Jugo and Lord A go?" Sakura asked, looking at the centre of the main hall and seeing neither of them.

The Katsuyu fragment suddenly slithered up Sakura's back and peeked her head out. "Bad news! Jugo and Lord A are under Jashin's control somehow! Jugo stopped Sasuke from following Lady Karin, then Lord A attacked him, and now they both followed Sasuke out- _**AAHH!**_ "

"Lady Katsuyu?!"

"Jugo just killed the piece of me that was on him… or rather Jashin killed it using Jugo's body… I can tell you what happens as long as Sasuke's piece is safe, but I'm worried about Lady Karin. She's all alone down there…"

"The quickest way to save Karin is to save Sasuke. And the quickest way to do that is to free Jugo and Lord A from Jashin's control."

"Yo, C. How about sensing A and Jugo for any foreign chakra?" Darui asked. But as he looked to his comrade for an answer, he saw C turn around and run for the pit in the centre of the hall.

"I'm afraid I've lost control of my body too!" C yelled. "I can't sense anything right now… Jashin won't let me!"

 _Jashin's making C run to the pit…_ Sakura thought. _Oh no… the Jashin Succession Technique recommends using a rope, and C has the Kokinjo right now…_

"We have to stop C from reaching the pit!" Sakura shouted as she broke out into a run. "Jashin plans to use the _**Kokinjo**_ in the _Jashin Succession Technique_ to steal Karin's body!"

On command, Tenten and Nodan started running alongside her, and Darui let Fuzai down next to the Frost ninja to follow suit.

"Cha!"

Tenten suddenly grabbed Sakura's arm with both her hands, stopping them both from running. "Not a good time for that, Sakura!"

"You too, Tenten?!"

Sakura looked to her right, frightened. The moment she looked to her right, however, her left arm was caught on another pair of hands.

Nodan frowned, staring down at the left arm he just grabbed. "Me as well…"

With both arms caught, Tenten and Nodan began pulling in opposite directions in roughly equal force, as if playing Tug of War with Sakura as the rope.

"They're not the only ones."

Sakura was frozen in place by the sound of Darui's voice behind them. She turned head to look behind her, only to find Darui drawing the Cleaver Sword.

"Looks like I'm going to cut you horizontally in half… sorry."

Not a split second later, Darui leaped at Sakura's back with the Cleaver Sword held ready for a backhand slice.

 _Even Lord Raikage… No, I can't afford to think about how right now. Horizontally in half from behind… That's all that matters at the moment… Cha!_

At that moment, Sakura had an epiphany. Knowing the direction the attack was coming, Sakura flicked both her wrists back as hard as she could. The impact of her hands with Tenten's left arm and Nodan's right caused enough force for them to let go with those hands. The next instant, she grabbed Nodan's left arm with her own left hand, then pivoted counter-clockwise at about a right angle, taking Nodan and Tenten with her and putting Nodan in between herself and Darui.

It seemed as though Nodan would take Darui's slice. However, when Darui reached Nodan's position, he did not go for the midsection as Darui warned; he went higher and severed Nodan's head instead.

 _Did Lord Raikage lie? No… Jashin just changed tactics after hearing his warning. So anything his captives say could be used against us… I have to let Sasuke know! As soon as I'm free and C's stopped…_ Sakura thought.

Despite the beheading, Nodan did not stop holding Sakura. To follow up, Sakura squeezed on Nodan's left arm, weakening Nodan's hold just enough for Sakura to free herself from his grip. Then she spun again, knocking Tenten into Nodan's headless body, freeing her right arm. With both arms free, she jumped away from Darui and then turned her head to look for C.

 _No… C made it… he's on his way down…_ Sakura thought with dread. "I can still warn Sasuke… Lady Katsuyu, tell Sasuke that Jugo and Lord A _shouldn't say anything_. Jashin will just make them move differently if they try to warn him about their moves!"

"That's odd. Jugo and Lord A have yet to make any movements contrary to their hints…"

"Tell Sasuke anyway. It might lead to one of us learning a weakness!"

"Certainly. What about Lady Karin?"

Sakura faced the northern hall again, staring down Tenten, Darui, and Nodan, who didn't bother to retrieve his head. "As for Karin… I have an idea. But I'm going to need more room to make it work."

Sakura's gaze travelled past Tenten, Nodan, and Darui to the gate behind them. "The quickest way is through _them…_ A Kage, a Head Ninja, and the best marksman in the Hidden Leaf… Here goes nothing…"

At that moment, Sakura stood tall, the _Hundred Strengths Seal_ spreading to cover her entire body as she broke into a dash once more. _There's no way I'm getting past all three of them at once without getting hit at least a few times…_

"You just released the _Hundred Strengths Seal!_ " Tenten excitedly observed as she started tapping her scroll in various places and quick-firing as many tools as she could at Sakura against her will. "That's Lady Tsunade's technique!"

"Stop fangirling and start giving her tips on how to win." Darui scolded as he made several hand seals. "There's a Laser Circus coming your way!"

"No! Don't give me any pointers!"

Sakura narrowly dodged most of Tenten's weapons and regenerated from the few wounds she did suffer on the way, doing little to slow her down. "Look at your hands again, Lord Raikage!"

"What's this?!" Darui saw a different set of hand seals than the one he saw before. "Black Hunting?!"

At that moment, a cat head formed entirely from black lightning, large enough to fill up the entire width of the hallway, burst from Darui's hands and shot forward, straight at Sakura. In response, Sakura used her Chakra Scalpel with both hands to disrupt the Black Lightning's chakra with as many cuts as she could dish out in the second or so she had, lessening the blow when she took it head on, unable to dodge it. Her pace slowed, numbed by the Black Lightning, but she regenerated the various shallow cuts caused by the technique on her way, and passed Darui, Tenten, and Nodan.

On her way past, Sakura noticed Nodan forming balls of blue flame in both his hands. _A Fire Style jutsu? This is Hidan's father we're talking about… But what could it be? They look almost like Naruto's Rasengan, if it were blue and not yellow…_

"No… _**NOT THAT**_ , Jashin!" Nodan's head screamed. "If you release the Kahakadama _here…_ "

"Kahakadama?" Tenten asked.

"It's my strongest technique! _Kahakadama…_ Flame Ravage Bomb! It devours _**everything flammable in its path!**_ It was created to burn bridges the enemy was crossing, within seconds if enough chakra is applied… To use it indoors is _suicide!_ You'd burn the whole castle down and _**take everyone inside with it!**_ "

"That's what Jashin's counting on, I bet." Darui said, his voice bitter. "As you could already tell, we're sort of immortal now."

"But seven of the Frost ninja in here aren't!" Sakura shouted as she looked to her sides, finding the aforementioned ninja and sombrely eyeing them.

 _I'm close enough to the door to smash it open and leave… but I'd be letting seven people die! I won't do that!_

Sakura looked at Nodan's body again as it walked over to where Black Hunting made contact with her.

 _The blood around there would have been supercharged by Lord Raikage's lightning… And that means…!_

The moment Sakura saw Nodan clash the Kahakadama together and slam the balls of flame into the floor, on instinct she bit her right thumb and slammed the floor the same way. Within the span of seconds, her vision went from being dominated by the blood red of the palace's interior, to the blue of Nodan's flames, and finally the white of smoke.

[X-X-X]

"What's the matter, Uchiha?!" A asked furiously as he rushed at Sasuke head on. "Madara had it tougher than this and he put up more of a fight than you!"

Using the Sharingan, Sasuke was barely able to see A coming and react, matching his Lariat with a Chidori.

"Behind you!" Jugo shouted during the clash. Sasuke tried to comply by forming his Susano'o ribcage to block the blow, but the pressure from A's Lariat was too much to quickly focus his chakra elsewhere, allowing Jugo the chance to swipe at Sasuke's back before the shield could form. Katsuyu softened the blow, so Sasuke wasn't injured by Jugo's attack, but Katsuyu suffered too much damage and the fragment disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Jugo sliced at Sasuke's back again, though by the second strike Sasuke was able to get up the shield and block his back from Jugo's attack. Unfortunately, at the same time his Chidori gave out before A's Lariat, and Sasuke was blown away through Susano'o, falling head-first into the snow.

Similar bouts occurred several times before. Every time Sasuke took his Sharingan off one of his opponents, they would blindside him while he was focused elsewhere. To further Sasuke's difficulties, both opponents were too fast for Sasuke not to keep his Sharingan trained on them at all times. This was now compounded by Jugo cutting off his line of communication with Sakura, first by destroying his own Katsuyu fragment, then Sasuke's in the most recent exchange. And the last of Sasuke's troubles…

"You have to do better than _**this**_ , Uchiha!" A roared. "I ate a _**Soldier Pill**_ this morning! I am **_not_** going to be slowing down any time soon! Use _**all your power**_ to defeat Jugo and me quickly!"

Sasuke struggled to get up from the previous assault. "Dammit… It's no use… The two of you are too fast to take on together. If it was only one of you I could do it no problem, but as things are now…"

" _Only one of us?_ " Jugo raised an eyebrow, and dropped his jaw in awe when he came to a solution. "I think… there's a way to accomplish just that."

"You don't mean…" Sasuke looked Jugo's way, apprehensive.

Jugo's expression was stern. "I do."

"Very well… Let's do it."

Sasuke focused his attention to the sky, a purple eruption of chakra warding off A's and Jugo's simultaneous attacks from different directions as it formed and spread its wings, taking flight. Once it reached a high enough altitude, Sasuke dissipated Susano'o and bit his thumb, summoning Garuda in the air for him to stand on.

" _ **HEY JASHIN!**_ " Sasuke shouted below. "Jugo and A might both be fast enough to take me on, but _**only one of them can fly!**_ And if he doesn't, I'm coming for you!"

As if responding to the threat, A turned around, keeping himself halfway between the Frost Daimyo's palace and Jugo, while Jugo… sat down and began meditating. Observing this, Sasuke smirked.

 _Things are going smoothly so far… I should check out the palace while I have the… WHAT THE?!_

At that moment, Sasuke finally noticed that the entire Frost Daimyo's palace was engulfed in blue flames. His initial confusion, however, would turn into worry and panic when he saw what happened next.

The castle began crumbling down, toppling like a house of cards amidst the blaze. The ground floor collapsed, followed by the dining hall and the rest of the second floor, ending with the higher floors, the rubble gathering mostly at the centre. By the time the burning ended, the castle had more closely resembled a mountain. The first thing that came to mind for Sasuke was…

"Sakura… _**SAKURA!**_ "

Sasuke was unable to help but imagine his beloved burnt to cinders among the carnage. After a moment of hysteria though, Sasuke calmed his nerves and thought things over:

 _No… I can't jump to conclusions just yet. Sakura's survived worse than this… but still. I have to make sure she's alright._

With renewed determination in his eyes, Sasuke flew Garuda over to where the northern hall used to be, and descended to get a closer look at where Sakura would have most likely been when the fire started. To his surprise and relief, beneath some of the rubble he could see what looked like a large white slug with blue stripes, big enough to fill most of the northern hall. Furthermore, at the corner of his eye, he could see a small piece of it break off and slither south, toward the centre.

 _Sakura… You're even more incredible than I give you credit for… You summoned Katsuyu at the last minute to save yourself and everyone in the hall with you from the palace's destruction. You even thought to send a piece of Katsuyu over to Karin at the same time… That's right… Karin…_

As the sun finished setting, Sasuke turned to look at the mountain of debris at the centre, with only one thought on his mind, all too aware of what lay under the wreckage:

 _You want a_ _fire_ _, Jashin? You got one… I'll burn this_ _whole mountain_ _away and set Karin free._


	65. Chapter 64: Scales of Madness

_Lady Karin, I'll be there soon…_

Katsuyu attempted to slither her way through the mountain of debris to its centre. Unfortunately, she had trouble finding a clear path and lacked the strength to make a path of her own, so she did not make much progress on her own. As if answering her prayers, however, a hawk descended from the sky in front of her, gliding idly just above ground as a young man jumped off its back and landed facing the wreckage.

"Sasuke! Thank goodness you're alright!" Katsuyu said. "Losing the piece of me on your back had me worried!"

Sasuke looked to the smaller slug in front of him. "Never mind me, you should steer clear. Things are going to get hot again."

At that moment, Garuda picked Katsuyu up with his talons and began rising into the air as quickly as he could. After a few seconds and with Garuda and Katsuyu at a safe distance, Sasuke stared at the mountain intensely, blood dripping down from his left eye.

" _ **Amaterasu!**_ "

Black flames erupted all over the ruins, wearing away at the already broken fragments of the palace even further. Sasuke then conjured Susano'o's complete form once more, held the Totsuka Blade over its head with its left arm, and swung down, collecting the black flames it made contact with while destroying all the debris save for the mass behind him in one vertical slice. When the smoke cleared and Susano'o withdrew its blade, Sasuke could see a square hole within the barren land where the centre of the palace once stood, itself standing out compared to the light sheet of snow that covered the ground of the surrounding area, a three-pronged patch of red in a sea of white.

 _Now it's all clear…_ the Uchiha thought as he dispelled Susano'o and approached the pit. "Let's go, Katsuyu."

"Incoming Iron Claw!"

Sasuke looked to his left and found that A, once again, was charging at him. It seemed to Sasuke that Jashin would stop at nothing to make sure he didn't make his way down the shaft. Without another moment to spare, Sasuke faced A, drew his sword, and pivoted counter-clockwise, parrying A's electrified grab with his own electrified weapon. The exchange resulted in them switching places.

 _Now's my chance!_

Sasuke swiftly turned east and started a dash back toward Jugo. A took roughly a second to stand up, being knocked to his feet by Sasuke earlier, then immediately chased after Sasuke. Hearing the sound of thunder behind him, Sasuke looked back to find A mere inches away. He then smirked and slowed to a grinding halt, putting up his Susano'o shield and raising his hand all the while, confidently taking A's Lariat from behind as he put his hand down, knowing A wouldn't stop himself mid-attack.

"What were you thinking, Uchiha?!" A asked as Sasuke recovered. "Stopping suddenly is suicide when you're fighting _**me!**_ "

"You don't get it. Good."

Sasuke grinned, turning around and looking up. A was forced to look up as well. There was a hawk in the sky, and a small white blur falling underneath it. A's gaze followed the slug for a few seconds, then suddenly he began running back toward the pit.

 _So that was your plan… to drop Katsuyu down to the Uzumaki girl!_ A thought. _It seems as though Jashin's caught on already, though… If there was ever a time I wasn't fast_ _ENOUGH_ _for something, it better be now!_

 _Great, now A's being forced to try killing Katsuyu before she gets to Karin…_ Sasuke thought at the same time. _There's only one way I can stop him… I have to get close enough to see him clearly and then swap places with him… and I have to be faster than him in order for it to work… It's all or nothing!_

Sasuke tried to follow A as quickly as he could. To Sasuke's distress, however, even at his fastest A was pulling away inch by inch. The gap was small but it was unquestionably present; A was still faster than him. Sasuke may have been able to see A with the Sharingan now, albeit with considerable effort and only at close range, but his body was simply not able to keep up in terms of raw speed. That was a fact he was now all too aware of. The realization - the _disillusion_ \- made him slow down considerably, his resolve wavering.

 _No… I can't outrun A… I can't stop him… This is just like when I first met Lee… Dammit! I'm sorry, Karin… I wasn't fast enough…_

As Sasuke cursed his relative slowness, however, he heard a scream behind him, which altered his mood drastically:

" _ **AARRGGHH!**_ "

Sasuke could recognize the scream immediately. It was one that he thought he would never hear again, and one that he always dreaded before. But this time it heralded the one hope he had of saving Karin. The scream in this one particular case, came as a sign of relief.

The scream seemed to unnerve Jashin as well, as after looking back briefly, Sasuke looked forward again and noticed A stumble in his tracks and after recovering, stop altogether. What transpired behind him, after all, required all of Jashin's conscious effort just to slow down, as far as Sasuke was able to tell. Seeing this, Sasuke's relief grew, and he began smiling.

Jugo had gone berserk.

[X-X-X]

As Jugo sat down in the middle of the snow, he recalled what Katsuyu managed to relay to Sasuke, A, and himself shortly before he unwillingly killed the fragment on Sasuke's back:

 _Jashin defied the hints the Raikage gave, but he hasn't done a thing to go against A and me. Why he wouldn't do the same to us? … That's not the right way to look at it. It's not that Jashin_ _WON'T,_ _it's that Jashin_ _CAN'T._ _I was able to out-speed him at the Southern Hideout, and A is even faster than me. Our bodies move too quickly for Jashin to change his strategies split-second the way he could with the Raikage; he isn't used to that kind of speed. He might be able to use our techniques, but that doesn't mean he has the experience to use them_ _EFFICIENTLY._ _And because of that, even though he knows how to gather natural energy… he won't be able to sit completely still when he does it. So when Jashin's done gathering energy and I transform, which Jashin needs in order to fly… I'll lose control, and take Jashin's control away too. Sasuke must have come to the same conclusion I did…_

With each passing second, Jugo could feel the natural energy coming in, his anticipation building in tandem with it. Eventually it reached its peak, and as expected, he screamed at the top of his lungs the moment purple markings started to cover his eyes and his eyes themselves turned yellow with black sclera. This was the first time in days he felt such excruciating pain when he transformed… and the first time in days he thoroughly enjoyed it:

" **HA HA HA! NOTHING TO HOLD ME BACK ANYMORE!** "

Jugo stood up, his arms and back white and scaly. He tried to run, but after a few steps, he felt a surge of pain in his torso, then he suddenly stopped against his will.

" **What… I'm not moving…** "

Jugo was surprised. He was sure he was completely free. However, it seemed as though there was something else keeping him at bay, or the same thing with greater force. The next moment, he felt his consciousness being bombarded by an outside threat:

"I figured I'd have a lot of trouble with you."

Jugo looked behind him inside his psyche to find a purple-skinned man with white skeletal markings, all-black eyes, a perpetual smile covering half his face, and red hair in the style of the Shinigami. "My ordinary level of control isn't enough on a Sage, it seems…" said the intruder.

" **You…** _ **You're**_ **what's making me SICK TO MY STOMACH!** "

Jugo propelled himself toward the invader with blades coming out of both arms. The invader, however, saw it coming and just narrowly dodged to the side.

"You won't be able to land a single hit on me by just _lashing out_ , no matter how much faster than me you are." the invader smugly remarked as he dodged yet another blow from Jugo. "You need some _**discipline and creativity!**_ Allow my soul to fill you with both! I, _**Lord Jashin**_ , shall control your body better than you ever could!"

Jugo flew into a rage and continued attacking Jashin, to no avail. " **Baloney!** **This excitement is YOUR doing, not mine!** "

"And you ought to _thank me_ for it!" Jashin replied, laughing as he caught Jugo's blades with chains, using the opportunity to bind him with even more chains coming from his chest. "You wouldn't have the _freedom_ you have now if it weren't for me. Come on… Give in willingly. You owe me at least that much!"

Jugo snarled with disgust. " **You call this** _ **freedom?!**_ **Being BOUND IN CHAINS inside your own head?!** **Not** _ **free**_ **unless I feel the thrill of killing WITH MY OWN POWER!** "

Jashin shook his head. "You misunderstand. I'm not here to take your body full time! Just to give you a little help!"

" **Help?!** " Jugo's eyes twitched in confusion.

"Yes… Just a way to _tip the scales_ in your favour, if you catch my meaning."

" **No catch!** **No need to think… just kill!** "

"That's fine! Allow me to explain… You're being mistreated by your other self. When he loses control, Sasuke is _always_ there to give it back. But when _**you**_ lose control to _**him…**_ no one's around to set you free! I can correct that injustice!"

Jugo's eyes widened. " **You… can?** "

"Yes, I can! When you run out of juice and fork control over to _**him**_ , I can sit him down and _**force you out**_ again!"

" **Then I can be truly free?!** "

"You can kill all the people in the world you want, with _no limitations at all!_ All I ask in return is that you _work for me_ as the new _**High Priest of Lord Jashin!**_ It is a job most suited for someone like you!"

" **I… like the sound of that! Sign me up!** "

" **Don't listen to him!** "

Jugo knew immediately that it was Gyuki who interjected, the only other presence in his mind. Soon enough the Eight-Tailed Ox showed himself, towering over him and Jashin, and continued his plea:

" **I was wild before, but B helped me move past that, and my life's been better ever since! I can feel it in you… you're just like me, like all of us Tailed Beasts. You do** _ **NOT**_ **want to go back to the life of a monster… Take it from someone who's been there! Please… Don't lose yourself the way we all did after Father Hagaromo passed away…** "

" **Shut up, OXYMORON!** "

Jugo burst through Jashin's chains, adrenaline rushing through him. Then he spread his wings and flew straight up at Gyuki, snapping his mouth shut with a single punch to Gyuki's lower jaw.

"Splendid!" Jashin clapped as Jugo descended, his entire face beaming. "Your first _**Mission from God**_ is to kill Sasuke Uchiha! He has been a thorn in _both_ our sides for far too long. I look forward to your massacres!"

And with that, Jashin left Jugo's mind. The moment he felt Jashin leave his psyche, Jugo returned to consciousness and cracked a snicker:

" **YOU CAN'T STOP ME NOW!** "

Jugo ecstatically stabbed himself in the stomach with all five fingers of his right hand - having turned them into sharp, long spears - and ripped his stomach out of his body. Using his left hand, he then slid his stomach off his right fingers, returning his right hand to normal size.

" **HA HA HA! How's THAT for** _ **creativity?**_ **Now that revolting chakra is gone, and you will never control me again! It's time for a BLOOD BATH!** "

With his freedom now guaranteed, Jugo spread his wings and flew directly for the pit in the centre of where the Frost Daimyo's palace once was, in search of his first victim.


	66. Chapter 65: Key to Freedom

Karin struggled to remain conscious in spite of her fatigue. "What's going to happen… after you take my body?" she asked Jashin.

"That's easy… I'm going to follow through on the _Second Commandment of Jashin!_ " the self-proclaimed god curtly answered, looking down at his captive. "You recall the barrier I erected when I first collected you, I presume?"

Karin's eyes widened with horror. _The Hidden Leaf Hospital!_

"Mito's granddaughter, Kushina's son, and the snake that took your DNA… I'll kill them first." Jashin added.

"You mean to… erase _all traces of our clan?_ "

Jashin crossed his arms and silently nodded.

"Why? Everyone who was around when Kagura the First usurped your position and exiled you is dead… Revenge won't settle anything now."

It was then that Karin saw Jashin's mouth move, but didn't hear anything.

Jashin suddenly looked up, deliberately taking his eyes off Karin. "I'm afraid this heart-to-heart between clansmen will have to end now! We have a visitor!"

 _You don't have to tell me, Jashin... I can just barely sense C coming down… Wait… Is what I asked related to the secret he hasn't told anyone?!_ Karin thought.

Just as Jashin advertised, C came falling into Jashinism's meeting chamber, sticking to the bottom of the tunnel with his feet then gently letting himself fall the rest of the way like Karin had done only minutes before herself. Now that they were on the same level, Karin tried sensing C's chakra for what was controlling him, but Karin couldn't find anything unusual. She figured she was simply too tired to pick up on minor details that would give Jashin's control method away.

"C… So happy you could make it!" Jashin said.

"The feeling is _not_ mutual."

C remained still, motionless as Jashin removed the Kokinjo from the Cloud ninja's right shoulder and rubbed a part of the golden fleece. Jashin then screamed with delight:

"Feels _exceptional!_ Rejoice, _**My Chosen Vessel**_ : your final moments are sure to be _comfortable!_ But first… I have to make sure no one interferes."

Jashin focused his gaze back up. Karin, almost passing out from exhaustion, followed with her own eyes.

At that moment, Karin heard faint rumbling noises that went on for what seemed like half a minute, slowly but surely blocking out what little light entered the room, until the noises stopped and the room was pitch black save for Jashin's glowing white eyes.

"Now we'll be uninterrupted, and since _part of your very soul_ will be connected to me through the Kokinjo, that meddling _**Uchiha**_ won't be able to stop the _Jashin Succession Technique_ the way he did _**last time**_ just in case he somehow manages to get past my puppets _and_ the terrain and tries to swap with you…" Jashin looked back down to where Karin was, "… but it's _too dark_ as is! C, my good man, light up the room!"

Within the darkness, Karin could barely make out the sound of metal hitting the ground, then the sounds of hand seals being made. At their conclusion, a spot in the pitch darkness began shining a yellowish white, and slowly encompassed the entire room in its light. The brilliance helped Karin stay awake, but it also put strain on her eyes, so she closed them for a few seconds. Then she opened them again, quickly getting used to the brightness of the room. Karin could now see everything clearly, from the entrances to various tunnels lining the perimeter of the chamber, to C and the Shichiseiken on the floor next to his feet, to Jashin himself, who Karin could now clearly see was a particularly deep red, starkly contrasting with the gold rope he was holding.

"Let us now connect!"

C walked over to Karin and picked her up in a bear hug upon Jashin's command. Karin tried to wiggle her way out, kicked C several times in the legs, and even bit C's right arm, but none of her desperate struggling allowed her to break free; her fatigue proved to be too much. While C held Karin up, Jashin tied one end of the Kokinjo around Karin's waist and tied the other around his own. During this moment, Karin could see a black-and-white wisp leave Jashin's left breast, spelling out a certain word.

" _God…_ " Karin said. _So this is what the souls Sasuke sees with the Rinnegan look like…_

Jashin chuckled. "It's a given that would be my _Word Soul_ , for I _**am**_ a God." He then looked to Karin and noticed a blue wisp coming out of her left breast. "And yours is _Sasuke._ An existence defined by someone else… How shameful."

"It'll change eventually. You _know_ how our chains work."

"It's too bad you won't get the chance. Now give me your blood!"

On cue, C let Karin down, picked up the Shichiseiken, and slashed at the small space of skin she showed between the edge of her dress and her right boot. Karin grit her teeth, wincing in pain as the sword's multiple branches cut into her flesh one after another, drawing a sizable amount of blood. C then carried the Shichiseiken over to Jashin, who licked the blood off the blade, white skeletal markings covering his entire body and his eyes turning all black as he did so.

"And at last… _you_ shall taste _my_ blood."

Jashin approached Karin once more while C grabbed Karin's head from behind and forced her mouth open. When Jashin was only inches away from her, he lifted his right hand and made a hand seal Karin didn't recognize. His middle and ring fingers were raised and pressed together, his index and pinky fingers were down, and his thumb was out. Jashin moved quickly to insert the middle and ring fingers into Karin's mouth, but right before his fingers made it…

" _ **WHAT?!**_ "

Jashin doubled back and looked behind himself in tandem with his scream. "He's… he's too strong! … We'll finish this soon."

And with that, what served as Jashin's body collapsed once more into a puddle of blood, losing the white markings and black eyes, and even the word _God_ that came out of it. Furthermore, C let go of Karin and kneeled down, checking on Karin's right leg.

"It seems as though Jashin's released his hold on me." C said, prompting Karin to turn her head down and to her right. "Here, let me heal your leg."

"No."

C stood up and raised an eyebrow.

"Jashin will notice if my injury's gone…"

"You're right…"

C went through his back pouch and pulled out an alternative that Karin recognized immediately. "Then at least take this Soldier Pill. Your being wide awake should be something that's not as easily spotted."

"Thanks."

Karin took the pill from C's hands and swallowed it whole. Within moments, Karin's vigour was restored. Taking this opportunity, she scanned C's chakra again with more precision, and this time, she found something unusual:

"Hey, C… I think I found out how Jashin controlled you."

"How? I can't sense anything out of the ordinary myself."

"There's a slightly larger concentration of Curse Energy in your stomach compared to everywhere else. That must be where Jashin was controlling you from. Though I'm not quite sure why that is…"

" _I'm_ sure… It's Jashin's blood. We all drank quite a bit of it, and a day has yet to pass, so we haven't finished _digesting the blood._ What remains in _our stomachs_ must be Jashin's conduit for his puppetry!"

Karin pumped her fists in triumph. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense! Let's-"

Suddenly, a white slug dropped squarely on Karin's head at terminal speed, making a squishing sound and completely obscuring her vision. Karin lifted the piece of Katsuyu above her head in annoyance, threw it violently to the floor, and stomped on it with her left foot:

"Who's great idea was it to _**drop**_ you on me, Katsuyu?!"

"Please calm down, Lady Karin! Both Sasuke's and Jugo's portions were destroyed in their fight. Sakura thought to send a piece over to you, and after clearing away the rubble, Sasuke helped drop me down here. If there's anything you can tell everyone up above, please do it now!"

"Alright…"

Karin took her foot off Katsuyu and crouched down next to her, putting up three fingers from her left hand near her face. "First thing, Jashin's body is _all magnetized blood_ _._ The same technique that cleared the path for Garuda should be able to _kill Jashin in one shot._ Second thing, the _blood in their stomachs_ is what Jashin is using to control everyone. And finally… huh?"

Karin stopped abruptly upon sensing Jashin back in the room, his chakra concentrated on one point. As quickly as she could while still kneeling, Karin turned around clockwise and fired a chain straight at the Tenketsu from her right hand. The chain connected and it seemed as though the Blood Style stopped, but before Karin could blink the very same chakra point flared up and a bullet of blood blasted clean through Katsuyu's midsection, forcing her to disappear in a puff of white smoke.

"Now you understand why I am so _**torn**_ between you and _this._ " Jashin grinned, pointing at himself with both hands as he watched the white slug fade away. Karin fell to the ground in shock, her eyes twitching in fear. "An adult human body has _three hundred and sixty one_ Tenketsu. You shut down a certain _sixty four_ of them and chakra cannot circulate _anywhere_ in the body, _completely immobilizing_ almost anyone. The only ones known to take that sort of attack and continue fighting are Jinchuriki and those with Curse Marks."

 _You must have gotten that from Tenten's memories…_ Karin thought.

"But with this body, _**every last blood cell**_ acts like a Tenketsu! I have _**trillions**_ to choose from!"

Karin's jaw dropped at Jashin's declaration.

"I might as well be a being of pure chakra!" Jashin added.

Karin bit her lip. "How ironic. The man that killed Kurama and Gyuki ended up with a physiology _just like theirs._ "

"Do not compare me to those _mindless animals._ All they can do is throw their power around like _idiots_ without a Jinchuriki to focus their power _for_ them. _**Me,**_ on the other hand? Well, my _**legendary**_ chakra control needs no introduction by this point."

"You said we were going to finish the _Jashin Succession Technique._ " C interjected, unable to move his body once more.

"Oh, we'll do that… just not here." Jashin said as he bent down to grab Karin by the neck and turned so she could see a tunnel going southwest. "We'll be down this corridor… after a few preliminary checks are met."

"Checks?" C asked.

Jashin took Karin's glasses off and stuffed them in her back pouch as his grin widened. The effects of C's jutsu were starting to wear off, but nonetheless the light in the room hurt Karin's eyes and she promptly closed them. Her doing this, however, caused her to drop her guard, and Jashin subsequently kicked Karin's butt. The force of the kick was just strong enough to propel Karin past the Trial of Wind and into the tunnel on the other side. "Let's see if _**My Chosen Vessel**_ has the stamina to heal herself from these blades of wind!"

"But she might die!" C protested.

"If she dies here she isn't worth being _**My Chosen Vessel**_ in the first place."

 _This is just like when Yoshitsune used the Cursed Blade Dance! The Soldier Pill I ate will be for nothing… Fuck!_

Karin blindly tried to bite herself while she cursed, quickly finding her right arm. Within seconds, all of Karin's wounds were healed, but she once again felt herself almost completely drained, struggling to remain conscious. Even worse was the fact that she now wasn't wearing her glasses and her chakra was near critically low.

Jashin laughed with ecstasy. "I knew I made the right choice selecting you!"

Karin was tired and effectively blinded, but she still tried to see into the chamber. It was all a blur, but she could make out a dark red man kneeling down in front of the well in the centre and another man, who she knew was C, standing behind him.

The last thing Karin saw before she fell asleep was the dark red man getting up and walking toward her, with a golden sash over his shoulder.

[X-X-X]

Sakura pulled herself out of the white slug matter that shielded her and everyone nearby from the Kahakadama. She was the first to leave Katsuyu's protection, punching away some debris around her. The first thing she noticed once she was completely out was that most of the Frost Daimyo's palace was no longer present, destroyed or otherwise. In its place was a barren landscape where it once stood.

"Have you sent a piece of yourself to Karin, Lady Katsuyu?" she asked the slug.

"Yes."

Sakura looked back to survey the larger segment's condition: she was covered in burn marks all over. _You don't have much time left…_

Sakura looked away in shame. "I'm so sorry…"

"Don't worry about _me_ , Sakura… Lady Karin managed to relay two vital pieces of information before Jashin killed that part of me."

"What are they?!"

Katsuyu's voice grew weaker with each passing second. "The first is that… Jashin's body is currently a mass of magnetized blood. The second… Jashin's controlling everyone through their stomachs…"

"That helps a lot! Thank you so much!"

"The rest is… up to you…"

Katsuyu promptly faded away in a puff of white smoke, exposing and freeing everyone that was inside. Sakura slowly nodded, furrowing her brow as she turned her head to face Tenten, Nodan, and Darui, who were the same distance away and, aside from Nodan who remained headless, were all unharmed.

 _Thank you, Lady Katsuyu… You too, Karin. Now I know how to save everyone from Jashin's control… Cha!_

Darui, Tenten, and Nodan likewise stared Sakura down. After just one second of scrutiny from both sides, Nodan and Darui rushed at Sakura while Tenten jumped back and pulled out her scroll. Sakura, knowing her strategy, chose to get into a stance and remain idle, waiting for her chance. It was then she noticed Darui and Nodan split formation, Darui running to Sakura's right and Nodan to Sakura's left. Furthermore, she could see a ways away Tenten jumping into the air, waving her scroll around. All three remained silent as Sakura instructed, so they wouldn't prompt Jashin to alter his strategy.

 _Lord Raikage should definitely be first. He's younger than Lord Nodan, so he's probably faster, and the Cleaver Sword gives his Taijutsu more reach… Lord Nodan will take more time getting behind me if I face Lord Raikage than the other way around._

Sakura followed through with her thoughts by running a little to the right to meet Darui up close. When it was apparent that Sakura was heading for Darui, he raised the Cleaver Sword and ran with it drawn and charged with lightning. Sakura doubled her speed toward Darui, steeling herself for what was to come.

As the distance shortened, Darui's pace quickened, and when Sakura was within range, he went to stab Sakura through the heart. Within a hair's breadth of being impaled, Sakura swiftly side-stepped the blow and reached for Darui's gut with her right hand.

"Cha!"

Sakura tore into Darui's flesh with all her strength, grabbing Darui's stomach and pulling it out of his torso as quickly and as cleanly as she could in the heat of the moment. Darui gasped in shock, dropped the Cleaver Sword, and clenched the gaping hole in his belly on reflex:

"I can… I can move again!"

Darui's eyes lit up, relieved as he lost balance and stumbled on to the ground.

"It's not over yet."

Sakura threw Darui his own stomach to hold, who caught it without a word, dumbfounded. The kunoichi then pick up the discarded, charged Cleaver Sword with her right hand and turned around. Surely enough, Nodan was approaching them and making hand seals.

Sakura launched for Nodan. Before she could reach him, however, Nodan finished his hand seals and blew several gusts of razor wind at her.

 _Figures… wind beats lightning…_

Sakura carefully dodged each blast of wind during her pursuit so that the Cleaver Sword wouldn't make contact with the wind and lose its charge. When she finally reached Nodan's headless body, she proceeded to slash at Nodan's midsection, numbing his body and making a cut just deep enough for Sakura to reach into Nodan's innards and pull out his stomach with her left hand, causing Nodan's body to fall limp as his head was still detached.

 _Two down. That leaves…_

Just then, Sakura heard a flurry of kunai and shuriken coming her way from above and to her right. With no time to spare, Sakura dropped Nodan's stomach and held the Cleaver Sword up with both hands, deftly blocking the entire assault of weapons. The rain of kunai and shuriken disappeared in puffs of smoke as they bounced off the Cleaver Sword and hit the ground. Once the flurry ended, Sakura looked over to Tenten, who was still in the air, tapping various parts of her scroll, this time summoning a different sort of weapon:

"Spiked iron balls?!"

"The Cleaver Sword was built to tear through flesh, not _metal…_ " Darui spoke up, alerting Sakura. "You need years of training with a sword to even _consider_ cutting through steel… Sorry, but it won't be much help."

"If you say so."

Sakura nodded and then threw the Cleaver Sword away to her right, landing blade-first next to Darui. At the same time, the black markings coming from the Hundred Strengths Seal faded, leaving only the mark on Sakura's forehead.

 _That's just great… taking Black Hunting head on, summoning Lady Katsuyu, and using the Cleaver Sword just now made it run out… I'll have to get close to Tenten without getting hit at all… Time to figure out which is stronger I guess: Tenten's ability to_ _ **land**_ _hits or my ability to_ _ **avoid**_ _them…_

As Sakura finished her thoughts she ran straight at Tenten, keeping her head up for the impending assault.

[X-X-X]

A knocked Sasuke to the ground yet again moments after losing control of his body for a second time. "On your feet, Uchiha! Is this really all you've got?!"

"Sorry… running out of chakra…"

Sasuke panted, trying his hardest to get up and follow A's movements with the Sharingan. But as the moments went on, A grew blurrier and blurrier, and eventually Sasuke couldn't see him at all. _Having to fight at top speed constantly really takes its toll… I still have a lot of training to do..._ the Uchiha thought. Just then, he heard A say something from somewhere he could not pin down due to his fatigue:

"I can see that! Your Sharingan's off!"

Sasuke closed his eyes to focus on his hearing, and found that the voice was coming from right in front of him. Sasuke opened his Rinnegan and, to his surprise, could see A with his arm held above his head, ready to strike the final blow with a chop.

"Farewell, Sasuke Uchiha…" A solemnly said as he could feel his arm coming down. "You would have made for a remarkable apprentice."

At that moment, thunder rumbled across the snowy wasteland, and Sasuke's vision went completely white.

 _Sakura, Karin, everyone… I failed you all… I'm sorry…_

Almost certain he was dead, Sasuke closed his Rinnegan. He opened it again, and what he saw reminded him of the plan he concocted only minutes ago, and that he was not dead at all.

Jugo's right arm was plunged deep into A's abdomen.

 _I get it… The flash of white was Jugo's arm above me, and the sound of thunder was him penetrating A's lightning shroud!_

Sasuke's left eye widened as he saw Jugo stand behind him, his left arm holding A's right. On top of that, Sasuke could see blood dripping out of a hole where Jugo's stomach should have been.

" **My first victim… This revolting chakra in your stomach!** "

Jugo violently ripped open A's torso, pulling out his stomach and leaving a bloody hole. Jugo then pivoted counter-clockwise, tossing A's stomach aside and slamming A hard into the barren land underneath them with his left arm and dragging A through the mud. " **Ha ha ha! No rest until all this putrid chakra goes away!** "

"That's enough, Jugo." Sasuke commanded.

Jugo stopped dragging A, looked back to Sasuke, and laughed:

" **How about a THANK YOU for saving your life?!** "

Jugo turned around to face his teammate and let go of A, who now lay on his side writhing in pain.

Sasuke sat up and bowed. "Alright… thank you for saving me. Now please stop this violence. You already freed A from Jashin's control… and _yourself_ from his control, from the looks of it. You don't need to be angry anymore."

" **No… not free yet…** " Jugo raised his arms and protruded blades out of them, inching closer to Sasuke. " **Have to be free from YOU!** "

Sasuke shook with anxiety.

"Kimimaro wouldn't approve if you killed me… And what about that time in the Hidden Rain... You remember that, don't you?" the Uchiha asked.

Jugo shook his head and quickened his pace. " **I'm** _ **done**_ **listening to you! I'm done listening to** _ **anyone!**_ **DIE!** "

 _Dammit… You were right, Jugo… you couldn't rely on me forever…_ Sasuke thought as he faced death once more.

Jugo was inches away from killing Sasuke when suddenly he snapped his attention northward. His eyes widened with shock and indignation:

" **Tenten… YOU have that** _ **infuriating**_ **chakra too?!** "

Sasuke gasped. _Jugo can sense it in Sage Mode… of course…_

Finally gathering enough strength, Sasuke stood up. "Jugo, please… how is Sakura?"

" **Sakura? She's fine.** _ **For now.**_ "

Jugo then spread his wings and grinned like a maniac. " **Once I save Tenten from that** _ **abominable**_ **chakra… who knows? Maybe** _ **I'll**_ **kill her! Taking away someone so important to you… I bet it will feel LIBERATING!** _ **HA HA HA!**_ "

And with that, Jugo took off. All Sasuke could do was slowly follow along, using all the power he had left just to walk.

[X-X-X]

Sakura just narrowly dodged another iron ball.

 _It's no use… We're evenly matched._ _I haven't got hit, but I can't make any more headway! The only way I'll be able to get close to Tenten alive at this rate is to stall the battle out, and by then, Karin will be…_

" **TENTEN! I'm here to save you!** "

It was difficult for Sakura to see the source of this voice, being focused on the battle at hand, but she caught glimpses of a man with white wings that didn't flap.

Between the wings and what the voice said, Sakura was fairly sure who it was.

"Jugo?!" Tenten exclaimed with shock as she kept throwing spiked iron balls at Sakura against her will from the sky. Tenten was forced to turn around in midair to face the incoming Jugo, but before she could throw a ball at him Jugo rammed into Tenten, impaling her midsection on his right fist. This made Tenten let go of her scroll, which caused all the iron balls around her to disappear.

" **Allow me to express my LOVE for you, Tenten!** "

Jugo dove to the ground with Tenten below him at breakneck speeds. Tenten tried to break away from Jugo's hold by grabbing at his arm with both of hers and kicking Jugo in several places, including the groin. This prompted Jugo to accelerate their falling in defiance:

" **You** _ **reject**_ **me, Tenten?!** "

"No! Jashin's _making_ my body refuse you! Don't pay attention to it! Just keep doing what you're doing!"

" _ **YEAH!**_ "

Jugo finally reached the ground and slammed Tenten into the ruins. Immediately afterwards, Jugo ripped Tenten's stomach out of her body and threw it north, towards Sakura, who caught it on reflex.

"Are you giving this to me for safe keeping?!" Sakura shouted, walking over to them in confusion. "We'll need to put these back in after we've killed Ja-"

" **HA HA HA!** "

Just then, Jugo launched himself at Sakura as fast as he could. Sakura saw the moment of launch and tried to sidestep his attack, but he moved too fast for her to avoid it completely. The invisible aura of Sage Mode grazed her cheek and she was sent spiraling backward, letting go of Tenten's stomach as a result of the impact.

Sakura quickly recovered and faced Jugo once more. "You lost control again… Was Sasuke not able to help you this time?!"

Jugo's entire body turned white and scaly, transforming every inch of his body into its complete, monstrous form. " **All birds one day leave their nest!** **For me, that day is TODAY! No one controls me anymore! Not Jashin and not Sasuke! Once I KILL YOU, Sasuke will never control me again! He will hate me too much to try! HA HA HA! … Huh?** "

Jugo felt someone behind him, wrapping their arms around his waist, holding on as tight as possible despite the lack of a stomach.

"Please stop this, Jugo…" the one behind him begged, starting to cry.

Jugo looked down and behind him at the woman embracing him. " **Tenten?** "

"You say that you want freedom, but what you're planning… it won't lead to freedom at all. Neji… he wanted the same thing you do now! After his father died, he believed that our fates were decided at birth, but deep down he wanted to be wrong! He wanted to be free… he wanted to be free so much that he was willing to destroy everything he cared about to get it! He kept pushing Lee away, and he almost killed Hinata! But what he did, it wasn't liberating… it only made him suffer even more! I wasn't able to see it back then, but I do now! If you keep going down this path, you won't be free… You'll be _trapped_ by your own solitude!"

" **I will?** " Jugo relaxed his muscles, but remained transformed, at a loss of words.

Tenten leaned her head against Jugo's back and softened her embrace. "Yesterday, you told me you had a dream. A dream where you'd visit all the Senjutsu Schools in the world! Fate had no hand in that decision… you came up with that _all on your own._ You were _already_ free when you told me that, Jugo… Let's go on that journey together, okay?"

" **Tenten… You're…** right…"

The blacks of Jugo's eyes turned back to white and all of his body save for the purple markings around his eyes and his limbs reverted to their original colour. "I'll… definitely go with you. Thank you… for stopping me, Tenten."

Witnessing the scene unfold, Sakura couldn't help but smile.

"Don't mention it, Jugo." Tenten said as she let the sage go and spun him around so she could see his face when she looked up. "Just don't scare me like that again, okay?"

Jugo knelt down so his eyes were level with Tenten's. "I won't. I only chose to explode to break away from Jashin's control… It was the only thing Sasuke and I could think of."

"Speaking of Sasuke…" Sakura interjected, approaching Jugo and Tenten once more and causing them to look her way. "What happened to him?"

Jugo's expression hardened. "He's in trouble. He exhausted himself fighting A and me and his chakra is so low he can't use his Sharingan…"

"We have to help him! Let's go! Cha!" Sakura then threw Tenten's stomach back at her. "I'll heal everyone's injuries when all this is over. Until then, don't lose your stomach, Tenten!"

"Umm… okay, but…" Tenten caught her stomach and sat down in place, "What about _your_ stomach, Jugo?"

Jugo shook his head and stood up, approaching Sakura and lifting her up in a bear hug. "We can worry about that later. Between Gyuki's chakra and Sage Mode, I hardly feel it anyway. Right now Sasuke's the priority."

"We'll be back soon, Tenten!" Sakura yelled as Jugo sprouted his wings and rose in the air.

"Bye, Sakura!" Tenten waved with one hand while holding her stomach with the other arm. "Love you, Jugo!"

"I… love you too, Tenten!"

Jugo looked down at her, flustered as he kept flying south east.

After thirty seconds or so, Jugo and Sakura saw Sasuke limping a few yards away from them and they landed, rushing to his aide.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted.

"Sakura? And…" Sasuke collapsed from exhaustion before he could finish his sentence. Sakura and Jugo arrived just fast enough for Sakura to catch Sasuke before he hit the ground. "You're better, Jugo?"

Jugo smiled next to him and Sakura. "Tenten saved me."

"Did she? … Well I'll be…"

Sakura laid Sasuke gently on the ground and placed her hands on his chest. "Stop talking and let me heal you!" she commanded.

Sasuke silently nodded with a smile.

"You'll need to be healthy if we stand any chance of defeating Jashin for good… You're the _only one who can kill him._ Karin discovered something about Jashin you need to know."

And thus Sakura relayed to Sasuke what Katsuyu had learned from Karin as she healed him. When Sasuke had enough chakra to use his Sharingan again, Sakura stopped and let Sasuke stand himself up. Once he was up, Sasuke, Sakura, and Jugo made their way to the pit.

"Finally, nothing stands in our way." Sasuke said as he looked down.

"Hold on." Jugo objected. "Karin and Jashin might not be directly below. They could be through the Trial of Wind or Water… we'll need the Bashosen to navigate the whole area."

"Then get to it."

Jugo nodded upon Sasuke's command and ran back to Tenten.

"Sakura…"

"I'm not going down with you, Sasuke. Someone has to stay up here and tend to the wounded. That's my job; Jugo's needed to access the tunnels below and you have to kill Jashin."

Sasuke turned to look Sakura in the eyes. "That wasn't what I was going to say, but I'm fine with that."

Sakura returned Sasuke's gaze. "Then what _were_ you going to say?"

"If I don't back to prison, then I'm going to take up A's offer to train me."

Sakura bashfully looked away. "And you're bringing this up _now_ because…?"

"If I go too far and wind up like I did just a minute ago…" Sasuke looked down, himself flustered, "… Will you heal me again?"

"You dork…"

Sakura gently hugged Sasuke, then looking straight into his eyes again and smiled. "I'll _always_ have your back as long as you have mine."

"Thank you…"

Sasuke hugged back with his one arm for a brief moment, then broke away, focused on the pit once more.

"Sasuke! Sakura! I have the Bashosen!" Jugo shouted as he ran back, holding the legendary fan in his right hand.

"Then there's no more time to waste."

Sasuke jumped down the pit immediately after his remark. Jugo followed shortly after, while Sakura turned north. During the fall, Sasuke had a single thought at the forefront of his mind:

 _Jashin… It's time to put an end to this battle… to all our battles!_


	67. Chapter 66: End of the Path

It took Sasuke and Jugo a few moments to adjust their eyes to the small amount of light in Jashinism's meeting hall coming from above. Once they did, they were taken aback by a sight at the entrance to one of the corridors, just on the other side of the Trial of Wind.

A body had been completely torn asunder. Several pieces were strewn across the floor, most of them piled on top of one another, and the surrounding area was covered in blood. Sasuke could only make out a few details in the dim lighting, one of them being that whoever this was, they had blond hair.

"This must be C…" Sasuke said. "After Jashin picked up the Kokinjo, he must have made C walk himself through the Trial of Wind without protection to dispose of him."

Jugo looked away, trembling in disgust at the sight before him. "He should still be alive… But in his current state, all he can do is suffer until his time comes… How cruel…"

Sasuke turned away to look at Jugo, himself trembling from the gruesome display. "Sakura can put him back together when we're done. Right now we need to focus on Karin and Jashin. Jugo… sense for Karin."

"Understood."

Jugo extended his Sage Mode's sensing reach as far as he could. With considerable effort, Jugo managed to locate Karin:

"She and Jashin are… that way."

Jugo pointed to a corridor to the southwest with his left hand, his right holding the Bashosen. Sasuke followed Jugo's finger to the corridor he was referring to.

"That's -!"

Sasuke's Rinnegan twitched as he stopped himself, recalling Hidan's memory of reading _The Way of Jashin_. "That's the path that leads to the Land of Fire! Once he's taken Karin's body, Jashin might be planning to destroy the Hidden Leaf! Quickly… disperse this wind!"

Without a word Jugo nodded and sent chakra into the Bashosen, clearing the Trial of Wind as he did when he first arrived.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed with incredulity. "Naruto's technique? Seriously?"

"It's the only Wind Style jutsu I've seen clearly enough to imitate…" Jugo shrugged as he started walking to the tunnel. "Anyway, let's go before the wind kicks up again…"

"Not so fast."

Sasuke noticed something sparkling in the corner of his eye, something silver. He turned to face it, and found himself looking at the well in the centre of the room with what appeared to be a sword floating at the top of the water. "The Shichiseiken is still here…"

"Leave it. You don't have the chakra to wield _that_ sword… You could only use it once safely, twice if you're lucky…"

"That's true, but…" Sasuke's expression changed to a smirk as he quickly picked up the Shichiseiken, "… we could still have a use for it." He then turned around and proceeded to enter the tunnel before Jugo.

"What do you mean?" Jugo asked as he followed Sasuke close behind.

"Here's what I'm thinking…"

[X-X-X]

Jashin was speaking to himself, his prey asleep and propped up next to the wall.

" _ **My Chosen Vessel**_ trusts Sasuke, so if she senses him coming, she will not tell me about it. I have to rely on my own senses to best him… make sure he cannot use _Indra's Revolving Arrow_ to destroy me. In that case…"

Jashin looked down at Karin, tying her up with one end of the Kokinjo, and wrapping the other around his own waist. "Now then… _**My Chosen Vessel**_ must be awake to do battle with her soul…"

At that moment, Jashin slapped Karin across the face. She opened her eyes in response, and saw only a dark red blur in a sea of near-black, with a gold rope tied around his waist. Recalling her glasses being taken off, she tried to reach for her back pouch where Jashin put them, but found herself restrained by the same gold rope, and couldn't get to her glasses.

Jashin picked Karin up by the neck and stood her up, her back to the wall. "It's useless to resist anymore, _**My Chosen Vessel.**_ You have no sight. You lack the strength to use your chains, and even if you didn't, they'd be useless against me anyway. All you can do now is lay back and accept that I, _**Lord Jashin**_ , shall be the _successor_ for your body. You should be _grateful_ , you know. You'll get to understand your father's feelings. He could do nothing but watch as I used his body to destroy his country. And now you will share the same fate; I shall use your body to destroy the last of our clan."

"I _already_ understand Dad…"

"That's not even the best part." Jashin grinned. " _Suigetsu…_ I'll be able to tickle his fancies better than you ever could."

Karin narrowed her eyes. "The fuck… are you talking about?"

"Surely you've caught on by now, haven't you? Turning my whole body liquid, the finger gun… did you even once ponder just what convinced me to create this sort of body today, or rather _who_ convinced me?"

Karin dropped her jaw as she recalled Jashin's movements, and remembered Suigetsu's fighting style, wracked with horror at the similarities she now saw. "You… studied Suigetsu's techniques through Jugo's and Fuzai's memories… And replicated them…"

"That's right… I recall that he was my first sacrifice after you released me. Sent him to _**My Holy Ground**_ , though Sasuke freed him along with myself… Perhaps I should never have done such a thing. After all, I would be unable to _take advantage_ of him in your body if his mind weren't there…"

Karin shook her head, shivering. "You underestimate him… He'd be able to tell I wasn't really me just by looking in my eyes."

"That theory will be put to the test soon enough."

Jashin approached Karin and sharpened the fingers of his right hand through Blood Style, aiming for Karin's left breast. As he was inches away from stabbing her, however, Karin suddenly jerked her head to her left.

 _She can't see me clearly enough to be unnerved by my appearance, and she's proven herself resilient enough not to cower away from any injury, so why?_

It was then that Jashin started hearing two pairs of footsteps.

 _I see… you've sensed a couple of would-be rescuers. I will have to deal with them before I can proceed with the Jashin Succession Technique…_

Jashin looked to his right, and there he saw the last two people on the planet he wanted to see. Jugo, the one who broke free of his control, wielding the Bashosen; and Sasuke, the only one with the ability to kill him, wielding the Shichiseiken. Seeing them, he quickly pulled Karin off the wall and spun her so he had her in a lock from behind. He then faced Sasuke and Jugo, with his right hand a makeshift knife to Karin's throat and his left hand pointed at Sasuke. He also made sure to look slightly down, focusing on Sasuke's and Jugo's feet.

"Do as I say or _**My Chosen Vessel**_ dies! Any sudden moves and Sasuke dies!"

The two of them remained silent, as if contemplating the validity of his threats. Jashin figured that was the case, since after all, they were under the impression he wanted Karin's body at any cost. In response, Jashin lowered his right hand and slashed at Karin's collarbone, then quickly brought his hand back to her throat. The two of them flinched then looked back at Jashin.

"That was a warning! I've prepared for a future without _**My Chosen Vessel!**_ Her life doesn't matter to me anymore! Now do as I say!"

Jashin saw Sasuke and Jugo nod in unison, agreeing to meet his demands.

"Sasuke, drop the Shichiseiken and close your eyes!"

The Uchiha complied and slowly let the Shichiseiken down, then closed his eyes and put his hand over top of them.

"Jugo, you drop the Bashosen too!"

The Snake Sage let the Bashosen down slowly, once more complying with Jashin's demands.

"Now back away three paces and get on your knees!"

Jugo yet again did as instructed.

"Sasuke, kick the Bashosen over to me! Give me the Bashosen and I _will_ let _**My Chosen Vessel**_ go!"

 _Ha ha ha… Without the Bashosen, those fools can't use Wind Style or Earth Style… I'll be able to escape from here, while the whole team will starve to death, trapped in this tunnel. The only one that could survive is My Chosen Vessel, by passing through the Trial of Wind and biting herself, then escaping how she intended to earlier… and once I'm done with the rest of our clan, I will return to perform the Jashin Succession Technique without anyone able to stop me! Only a god like myself could come up with such a brilliant, perfect plan!_

To Jashin's elation, Sasuke was indeed walking a few steps to the Bashosen beside him, finishing between Jugo and the fan. Using his right foot, Sasuke passed the Bashosen to Jashin; upon Sasuke's kick the fan spun clock-wise just above the floor before it landed at Jashin's and Karin's feet.

Keeping his left finger trained on Sasuke, Jashin bent down and reached for the Bashosen with his right hand. But moments before he could touch the fan, he found himself, Karin, and the Kokinjo binding them together significantly closer to Jugo than they were before.

Jashin stood up and turned behind him counter-clockwise to point his left finger at Sasuke again. "You thought you could save _**My Chosen Vessel**_ like before, huh?! Too bad the Kokinjo bound us together like I thought! You cannot swap with just one of us! It's time you paid for your mistake!"

Jashin thought to flick his left finger and shoot at Sasuke, who as he could see was now picking up the Bashosen in his place. As he was about to fire a bullet of blood, however, he heard a spark from behind him. And immediately afterwards, his body stopped responding to his commands; the bullet did not leave his left finger when he wanted it to. The next instant, he saw a rod made of blue lightning at the top of his vision, most likely extending from his forehead.

"What is this madness?! The only one who could have done this was Jugo… and he can't use Lightning Style without the Bashosen!"

"The answer is simple, Jashin."

The self-appointed god recognized the voice that replied to him. It was coming from behind and below him, and he was horrified to hear it. He looked behind himself as best he could, and in the corner of his eye he saw his entire plan fall apart.

Who Jashin thought was Jugo was suddenly surrounded in a puff of white smoke, and what revealed itself was his greatest fear made real:

"… I'm not Jugo."

The source's black hair and mismatched eyes scared Jashin into silence, and further prompted him to look forward again to confirm his most recent thought:

 _If Jugo was actually Sasuke, then… who is that Sasuke over there?!_

"Now!" the Sasuke behind Jashin commanded.

On cue, the Sasuke in front of Jashin was surrounded in white smoke, revealing Jugo underneath. He waved the Bashosen with his right hand, conjuring an orange fire ball large enough to consume Jashin whole. The ball of flame spiralled toward Jashin with impressive speed, and in due time it was the only thing Jashin could see.

 _No… I can't move my body… lightning is coursing through every last cell… Was this how the water boy felt when I stabbed him? … No, he is but a lowly human. I am a god; our senses are incomparable by default. What he felt must have been paltry compared to what I'm feeling now! At least My Chosen Vessel will not walk away from this alive… the Kokinjo binds our souls! If I burn, she burns!_

Unfortunately for Jashin, reality would defy his expectations once more.

Jashin heard footsteps behind him along with the fire ball in front of him, then heard someone pick something up. The next instant, he heard a swipe in the air behind him, and moments later he felt the Kokinjo around his waist loosen and drop to the ground.

 _Yes, the Shichiseiken… it cut my Word Soul out of my body and recorded it, so I'm no longer connected to the Kokinjo… and thus My Chosen Vessel! I will be the only one to devour these flames… No, Sasuke and My Chosen Vessel are too close to me, and the ball of flame is just about to connect! They will die alongside me after all!_

The last thing Jashin heard before his body exploded from contact with the Bashosen's flames was the sound of a hug and a chain shooting out of someone's body.

[X-X-X]

Karin, now with her glasses back on, stomped her feet next to Sasuke, who was sitting down next to the wall, catching his breath. "You're lucky I was quick enough to grab you and pull us both out of the blast radius with a chain out of my back, Sasuke! Using the Shichiseiken like that almost got you killed! You barely have any chakra left!"

"I _wasn't_ lucky… Unless you call trust in your comrades 'luck'…"

"You mean…" Karin looked back to where Jashin exploded, reflecting on what transpired only minutes ago. "You _knew_ you'd run out of chakra using the Shichiseiken and _planned_ on me saving you from the start?"

Sasuke nodded. "You sensed Jugo and me using the Transformation Jutsu to turn into each other and didn't rat us out to Jashin… That's proof right there that I could trust you with my life. Not that I needed it after we revived Butsuma together…"

"Why did you transform into each other anyway?"

"I suspected that Jashin would have wanted to take the Bashosen away from us and make me close my eyes. By transforming into each other, Jashin would have made the _wrong person_ close their eyes, giving me the opportunity to swap Jugo with the Kokinjo, and put Jashin in range of my lightning and the Shichiseiken. Seems I was right."

"I still think you got lucky. It took everything I had just to keep my trap shut and not _scream_ when I saw _lightning_ come out of your right hand. For a moment there I was sure you were going to _stab through me_ again! Little did I know you went _over my head_ this time!"

Sasuke looked down, away from Karin's piercing gaze. "Sorry if I startled you…"

Karin got down and hugged Sasuke with a smile. "Don't apologize, idiot. You and Jugo saved me and stopped Jashin at the same time. You should be _proud_ of that. Don't undersell what you did here just because you were a bit reckless!"

"And you saying I got lucky when I _planned_ on you performing as admirably as you did _isn't_ underselling?"

"I guess it is…" Karin relented, breaking away from her hug and sitting to Sasuke's right. "You're right; I was _awesome_ back there! Just wait till Suigetsu hears about this!"

"He'll be thrilled for sure… That or upset he wasn't a part of it."

Karin laughed in response to Sasuke's comment.

"Sasuke, Karin… How are you holding up?" Jugo interjected, having walked back from being swapped with Jashin and Karin, the Bashosen in hand.

"Sasuke needs rest." Karin replied as a matter of fact. "Using the Shichiseiken drained him of most of his chakra. As for me…" she pointed to the cut in her collarbone, "… this wound isn't very deep at all. I can wait till we get outside for Sakura to heal me. No point wasting my chakra biting myself over a wound this small."

"Actually, you'll need to wait even longer than that." Jugo said. "C's in very bad shape… _shredded_ is probably the best word to describe him."

"Jashin made him walk through the Trial of Wind didn't he?! I suppose he _is_ the top priority then…" Karin then moved her left arm behind Sasuke's back, grabbing his left shoulder. "Need any help walking the rest of the way, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha nodded and put his own arm around Karin, careful not to cut her with the Shichiseiken, "I'd appreciate it…"

Then they stood up together, Sasuke letting the weight on the right side of his body relax, supported by Karin.

"I'll get the Kokinjo, then." Jugo said, walking to the gold rope next to Sasuke and Karin and wrapping it over his right shoulder. "I'll open the path back to the surface."

"Lead the way, Jugo." Sasuke instructed, walking alongside Karin just behind Jugo, traveling back in the direction they came from.

[X-X-X]

During the walk…

"I just noticed this, but the word _God_ is written on the Shichiseiken…" said Sasuke.

Karin jumped. "That's Jashin's _Word Soul!_ "

"But we killed him…" Sasuke objected. "How could Jashin's _Word Soul_ still be on the Shichiseiken?"

"Maybe we didn't get all of him…" Jugo said.

"I'll try searching for his chakra." Karin closed her eyes to focus her _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_. "It's faint, but I can definitely feel it. It's below Jashinism's meeting chamber!"

Jugo gasped. "The _Room of Cyclic Time…_ Jashin could have left a piece of himself behind there to regenerate, if for some reason his main body was killed…"

"So that's what I saw him doing at the well before I passed out! He was sending a piece of himself past the Trial of Water and into the _Room of Cyclic Time_ as a last resort!"

"Then we need to finish the job." Sasuke said. "We head there immediately."

"No… you're in no condition to fight!" Karin protested. "We're better off waiting until you've recovered your chakra before taking him on again, Sasuke."

"It's fine… I have enough chakra in me for one more spear, and Jugo can use the Bashosen, just like before."

At that moment Sasuke smirked:

"We might also not need to fight at all, if my hunch is correct."

"What hunch?" Jugo and Karin asked.

"It'll be easier to show you than tell you… so we're going to the _Room of Cyclic Time_ and that's final."

"If you're so sure about it…" Karin replied. She relented, and Jugo was soon to follow.

As Sasuke instructed, Jugo cleared the Trial of Wind and the Trial of Water, allowing him, Sasuke, and Karin to pass into the room below. Jugo destroyed the proper wall just as he did earlier that day, and lo and behold, Sasuke, Karin, and Jugo saw a miniature Jashin on the other side. He was no larger than Jugo's foot, an amalgamation of what little blood he left behind.

"So you found me out, have you?" Jashin asked rhetorically as he saw Jugo break in to the room with Sasuke and Karin just behind him. "I guess things really are over, then… Even _**if**_ I regenerate, you'll just kill me again…"

"So I was right." Sasuke remarked. "Even _you_ don't know what will happen to your blood when the room turns back the clock, if _the Holy Grail isn't here to contain it._ "

Karin and Jugo both turned their heads toward him in shock.

Jashin looked up to all three of them. "We'll all learn it in just a matter of time. Whether my body regenerates, or it ceases to exist completely, or something in between… I was sincerely hoping not to rely on chance to save my life. I am a _**GOD!**_ Gods shouldn't have to _gamble_ on anything!"

"You can save yourself by just leaving this room in the state you're in now." Karin pointed out. "You can continue living if you just leave."

"And have to constantly look _**up**_ at you ingrates?! Not a chance in hell! I hate you all! I will _never_ accept a life where I must constantly be reminded of my losses, being reduced to this tiny, insignificant thing! I would rather _**die**_ than remain a loser for all eternity!"

"That can be arranged." Sasuke interjected. "I can remove your soul from that body. You can choose to die now, and you won't even need to depend on luck to make it happen."

"And before you choose…" Karin added, "You should know that I lied about my blood type."

Jashin doubled back in confusion. "You _what?_ "

"I'm not type O. I'm type AB, the _exact opposite_ of what you wanted. I just gave you a fake blood type so you wouldn't kill me on the spot. It gave Sasuke, Jugo, and the others time to save me."

"I see…" Jashin looked away, contemplating. "But taking my soul with what you call the Human Path… it requires that you see my memories, yes?"

"You have that right." Sasuke affirmed, making Karin narrow her eyebrows and look his way. "So if you have any secrets you haven't yet told the world… they'll all be revealed without exception."

"I believe _**My Chosen Vessel**_ already knows how I'm going to answer those terms." Jashin then pointed to Karin.

"You do?" Sasuke and Jugo asked.

Karin nodded. "Yeah… he's going to refuse. I don't know what this secret he has is, but whatever it is Jashin believes that making it public would lead to _world peace._ Which Jashin hates more than anything else in the world… avoiding peace is the whole reason the Ninth Commandment exists."

"Why, of all things, do you hate _peace?_ " Sasuke asked.

"Because it gets in the way of what we all _really_ want."

Jashin was speaking in the most serious tone of voice any member of Taka had ever heard him speak with.

"The one thing that all life forms have in common is the _need to dominate and destroy other life._ We crave it, even; competition, jealousy, revenge… they're all hardwired into the genetic code of every living thing, guiding us to kill and steal and sacrifice to get what we want. In this world, you either take what you want from something else, or something takes what they want away from you. You win or you lose. 'Sharing'? 'Peace'? They are nothing more than _illusions_ conjured up by humankind as a means to escape that horrific reality."

"Madara believed the same thing." Sasuke said. "But even he didn't give up on a peaceful world…"

"Do not lecture me about Madara. I already know about him through the memories I've collected from all those who drank from _**My Holy Grail**_ **.** The damned fool spent his whole life _lying to himself._ He kept claiming that he wanted peace, but _one good look_ at him and you could tell that he was only ever truly happy _in the heat of battle with a worthy opponent._ Madara didn't really want to put an end to war; he _**loved**_ and _**enjoyed**_ war! But he kept trying to _escape_ his nature rather than _**embrace**_ it. That's where he and I differ; I never had such illusions. Nothing makes me _**happier**_ than seeing all life around me in despair, and I've never believed otherwise! I was _**born**_ to win, to take from all others, and rejoice in the experience of making others lose! That's what makes _**ME**_ a god and Madara but a _**pretender**_ ; Madara tried to _reject_ reality, when gods like me _**define**_ reality! I _**represent**_ the will of all life on this planet, to dominate and destroy all others until at last we bring the world to its total annihilation!"

"That's where you're wrong." Sasuke objected, looking down, sad. "While it's true that we crave destruction and domination, we also want to _understand_ each other. Empathy, compassion, the desire to communicate with others… we have these feelings too. The path you've taken, Jashin… it ignores these things. You destroy without regard for how anyone else feels. You see information as nothing more than a weapon to use against your enemies. You don't care to reach out to others when they need help; in fact, your favourite victims are those who _can't even defend themselves_. You claim to represent all life on this planet, when the truth of the matter is that you're _missing_ _something_ that all other life possesses."

"And that is proof that I've evolved beyond a mere mortal! I lack the one _**flaw**_ that holds life back from its true potential! We were supposed to destroy the world… I was supposed to set the world on to that path… I was the only one that _**could!**_ And look at me now… Perhaps I did go wrong somewhere… Not that I regret any massacre I ever committed. I may have taken the wrong path, but it is still one that I will _savour for eternity_ in the Pure World! Goodbye, Karin Uzumaki the Second, _**My Chosen Vessel!**_ My time with you has been _most pleasurable!_ In spite of the Seventh Commandment you may have been the only woman I ever loved… And good riddance, Sasuke Uchiha! _**BOOM!**_ "

The last word Jashin shouted remained an echo in the _Room of Cyclic Time_ for longer than any member of Taka bothered to measure. The miniature Jashin exploded into but a tiny pool of his own blood, the blast not large enough to even reach them. After a minute or so trembling with distress over Jashin's suicide, Jugo left the room, and Karin tried to leave, but Sasuke remained motionless.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Karin asked, looking back at Jugo anxiously. "We can't keep Jugo waiting, or anyone else for that matter."

"I know… thanks, Karin." Sasuke began turning around with Karin, following Jugo back to the Trial of Water, "It's just a couple things bugged me about Jashin's death."

"If it's about the secret, maybe we're better off not knowing it. Jashin chose to take his secret to the grave. As bad as Jashin was, we have to respect that decision. Remember Itachi, Sasuke, and what he died trying to protect."

Sasuke shook his head. "That's not the only thing I'm worried about. When Jashin died, I saw something peculiar. His soul didn't stay put like Hidan's or the Frost Daimyo's."

"Well, Jashin _did_ violate the First Commandment in the Southern Hideout. It'd only be _natural_ his soul wouldn't cling to this world without a body."

"I suppose that's the cause, but…" Sasuke's expression darkened, "… his soul didn't seem to go to the Pure World either."

Karin raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? All souls go to the Pure World when they die, like Uncle Nagato's did, unless they're Tailed Beasts or stuck in the Shinigami's dimension."

"That's thing… Jashin's soul didn't leave like Nagato's. It didn't disappear into a white light; it disappeared into a _purplish black_ light. And apparently I'm the only one who saw it."

"That _is_ weird…" Karin remarked.

"We can worry about solving the mysteries Jashin left behind later." Jugo interjected, stopping to point out they were under the Trial of Water. "Right now we have more pressing issues to deal with," he pointed to the gaping hole in his abdomen, "like inserting everyone's stomachs and putting C back together."

Sasuke sighed with relief. "You're right, Jugo. For now, we should focus on rest and recovery… Let's head back up to the surface and tell Sakura and the others what happened."


	68. Chapter 67: Consequences

"So it was the blood in our stomachs Jashin was using to control us?" A asked Sakura - who had just found his stomach - while sitting cross-legged in the snow.

Sakura handed A his stomach. "Yes sir. But I can't put your stomachs back in until we confirm Jashin's death. He might just control you again. Until then, I recommend holding on to it so it doesn't get lost. I'm going to look for Jugo's now; everyone else has their stomachs with them."

"Allow me to assist you with that." A stood up, stomach held in hand. "I know where Jugo was when he lost control and tore out his own stomach. We can start there."

"Are you sure you can move in your condition?"

"I ate a Soldier Pill this morning. And I've survived worse injuries than this anyway." He paused as he began walking east. "So let's get a move on and collect Jugo's stomach already…"

Sakura followed A's lead to where Jugo gathered natural energy. "Okay…"

It took no more than a minute to find Jugo's stomach once Sakura and A arrived at the area in question. Sakura picked up Jugo's stomach, and once she did they walked near the pit, on the north side, to wait for Taka and monitor everyone else simultaneously. A took the liberty to sit next to Darui and check on him, while Sakura stood between the pit and her patients.

"I already reattached Lord Nodan's head," Sakura thought aloud, "and it's probably better to keep the Frost ninja tied up until after Jashin's defeated, so -"

"Someone else needs your immediate attention!"

Sakura looked to the direction of the voice that interrupted her and found Jugo flying Sasuke and Karin out of the pit. He soon landed next to her and let both his passengers down.

"Sasuke! You look exhausted! And I just restored your chakra too!" Sakura exclaimed.

Karin pointed to the Shichiseiken in Sasuke's hand. "He used it all up on _that_ thing. Jashin used the Kokinjo on us both at the same time, so recording Jashin's _Word Soul_ was the only way to free me."

"Okay, I get it. You need me to heal you again."

"No, Sakura… someone else." Sasuke interjected, losing his balance and falling to the ground. Sakura dropped Jugo's stomach on instinct, and she and Karin caught Sasuke, sitting him down gently. "C… his body's been torn to shreds by the Trial of Wind. Looks like Jashin made him destroy his own body to keep him from talking after he didn't need him anymore."

"Oh god… how bad is it?!" Sakura asked. "And what happened to Jashin? Did he escape, Sasuke?!"

"No… Jashin's dead. We destroyed his core body, and the back-up he left in the _Room of Cyclic Time_ blew himself up. Jashin's _Word Soul_ left the Shichiseiken after that, so we can safely assume that Jashin is dead… wherever his soul went."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "His soul didn't go to the Pure World?"

"I can explain later… go help C right now. He needs your help more than I do." Sasuke said as he took off his backpack and let go of the Shichiseiken. Then he lied down and stared at the stars that were beginning to shine in the early night sky.

Sakura nodded, then stood up and promptly moved next to Jugo. "We've got to head back down!"

"This is your last trip, Jugo." Karin said as she scooped up Jugo's stomach in both hands. "Your chakra's getting low; using the Bashosen so much in rapid succession's tired you out. You've only got enough in you for one more shot."

"One more shot's all I need. Just to stop the Trial of Wind long enough to bring C into the central chamber."

"Then let's hurry to C! Cha!" Sakura cracked her knuckles. Jugo silently nodded and picked Sakura up in a bear hug, quickly flying her back down. Karin waved Sakura and Jugo goodbye with one hand while holding Jugo's stomach with the other, then sat down next to Sasuke.

"Hey… now that Jashin's been dealt with…" Karin looked over to the Frost ninja she tied up before the Frost Daimyo's death, "is it alright if I release them?"

Sasuke tilted his head to look at Karin. "Not yet."

"Why not?"

"We need to find the team we saved from the Frost Daimyo. Nodan wanted to say something to all the Frost ninja here, and there are _seventeen_ , not thirteen."

Karin left Jugo's stomach beside Sasuke and excitedly jumped to her feet. "That's right! They were just outside the western hall! I'll go get them!"

Without any further words, Karin ran off.

 _Hn… I can leave the rest to Sakura and Karin… Right now I have to…_

Sasuke started to close his eyes and fall asleep, but the sound of thunder woke him, and it prompted him to sit up in a panic.

"Huh? Lightning… oh, it's just you."

Sasuke looked over his shoulder and found A sitting behind him.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you since you came to rescue us, Uchiha…" the former Raikage said.

"What is it? Unlike you, I need to sleep…"

"I couldn't help but wonder how you knew to come here right away. That Akatsuki member Hidan's memories would not have been enough…" his voice darkened, "… he didn't know the Frost Daimyo was corrupt and a fellow Jashinist."

"You seem to have an idea in mind already." Sasuke smirked as he dove into his backpack and pulled out two scrolls, showing them to A. "You're right, by the way."

"How could you break the law so haphazardly, knowing what was at stake?! You committed the very crime you caught Fuzai for…"

"And I ended up saving the whole lot of you. I had a choice: abandon my comrades to uphold the law, or abandon the law to save my comrades. I chose the latter. And I'm ready for the consequences of that choice. Karin is too."

A raised an eyebrow. "What about Tsunade's apprentice?"

"Sakura? She was with us when we made that decision. So Sakura's the Leaf ninja responsible for escorting us to the Hidden Leaf and revoking our pardons. She agreed to that before we came here."

"She's made of sterner stuff than Darui, then."

Sasuke's eyes widened with shock. "You mean that the Frost Daimyo's claim was _**true?!**_ You tried to kill him?!"

"He was inches away from taking a sip from the Holy Grail… At the time I had no idea he was a Jashinist, and I beheaded him to keep him from drinking from it… Father and I both sullied our hands to keep anyone from drinking Jashin's blood ever again. I wasn't going to let anyone have a taste of that blood on my watch, no matter the cost. I instructed Darui, as Raikage, to arrest me for murder on the spot. He couldn't do it."

"What about the other scroll? Did Jugo and Tenten…"

"That was self-defence. A team of Frost ninja ambushed them because they landed too close to one of the Trials of Earth, and Tenten killed them protecting herself and Jugo. The Frost Daimyo attempted to stretch the truth to smear the Hidden Leaf's reputation in the Fire Daimyo's eyes by claiming it was murder."

"I see…"

Sasuke looked down, thinking. _So there was a lie in that scroll. If that's the case, there might be a lie in the one to the Lightning Daimyo as well…_

"You haven't told me the whole truth regarding your attempted murder of the Frost Daimyo, have you?" the Uchiha asked.

"What makes you think that?" A asked back, his eyes narrow.

"I don't think the Frost Daimyo was completely honest in either letter. Before Jashin killed him, the Frost Daimyo promised to come clean about all his crimes in exchange for helping us take Jashin down. Before that, if there was a way to get out of claiming responsibility for anything, he would have taken it. And there were also his words about it, how both these letters were similar. He wouldn't have said it if he sent both letters for different reasons. If one of them contains a lie, and one of them _does_ contain a lie, the other one does too."

"I wouldn't call it a lie, but the Frost Daimyo _did_ withhold vital information."

"What sort of information?"

"The most pertinent piece is that the Frost Daimyo tricked me - tricked _the whole team_ \- into coming into his castle… My crime of attempted murder was part of an elaborate scheme to destroy the Hidden Cloud's economy and start a Fifth Ninja World War. And further, the Frost Daimyo was the anonymous client who hired us for two of our dirtiest missions."

"And those missions would be…"

"The attempted kidnappings of Kushina Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga."

Sasuke's eyes twitched in response to A's declaration.

"We only agreed to them because we thought the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique or a Tenketsu-seeing Byakugan could help us track down the Holy Grail and store it behind Two Lights Valley. Of course, Father didn't know Kushina was not a member of the Kagura Dynasty when he agreed to the first mission." Added A.

"Actually, Hinata can't see the Tenketsu either. _Neji_ was the only member of the Hyuga clan alive at the time that could. You had the wrong target from the start."

"Is that so?" A looked down at his own stomach in his right hand, appalled. "The Frost Daimyo would have had no way of knowing that when they were both so young… not that it mattered. The Frost Daimyo _planned_ on Fuzai's father to fail his mission and provoke the Hidden Leaf to sacrifice Neji's father to appease us, all for the sake of _keeping our villages against each other._ "

"If the Lightning Daimyo were made aware of _that_ , I doubt he'd stop giving the Hidden Cloud missions because you were manipulated into trying to kill the Frost Daimyo."

"Yet you still intend to go to prison despite saving our lives today."

"I'm not sure." Sasuke replied, surprising A. "My immediate plan is to tell Kakashi the whole truth about what happened today. Then I'll let him decide what should happen to me. Whether Karin and I go back to prison or not isn't up to me. But either way … I know what I'm going to do after Kakashi's decision."

"What will you do if he decides you're free to go?"

Sasuke smiled. "I'm going to train with you, obviously. Our battle today showed me just how far behind I still am."

"Excellent idea! So where will we train? In your village or mine?"

"Mine. I've kept Sakura waiting too long…"

"It's settled then." A stood up. "I shall move to the Hidden Leaf as soon as possible, and give the Hokage my opinion! I must inform the Raikage of this immediately, and arrange to let B know that I've moved!"

"That reminds me… About B… Jashin destroyed his left arm this morning."

" _ **WHAT?!**_ My brother is now a member of the No Left Arms club too?! **AND YOU WAITED AN ENTIRE DAY TO INFORM ME OF THIS?!** "

Sasuke quickly sat up and bowed at A's feet. "Relax, please… We're making arrangements to give him a replacement arm. I've even volunteered the prosthetic I refused! Naruto and Hinata have probably found him and Team Asuma already, and they should all be at the Hidden Leaf by tomorrow at the latest! Your brother's going to come out of this _unscathed…_ physically, anyway…"

"Oh… then everything's fine."

A had calmed down, but in no time he looked back down to eye Sasuke with suspicion:

"Just what do you mean by B being _physically_ unscathed?"

"You don't know yet?" Sasuke looked up at A, eyebrows raised in confusion. "Jashin killed Gyuki, the _Eight-Tails_ …"

"My brother's _best friend_ was _murdered…_ "

A's eyes twitched briefly before his anger peaked again:

"…and I _**WAS NOT INFORMED OF THIS FOR A WHOLE DAY?!**_ "

Without warning, A dropped his stomach and lifted Sasuke by the neck in a tight, lightning-filled grip.

"That does it! Here's a taste of how I dole out _**punishment**_ to my students! _**IRON CLAW!**_ "

A then slammed Sasuke face-first into the ground, emitting a small shock wave around them.

 _Jugo… You should have known about Gyuki's death the moment it happened, and you've been with A almost all day… why didn't you tell him already?!_ Sasuke thought as his eyes closed and he fell fast asleep.

"And it'll be _**twice**_ as painful once you've become my apprentice for real!"

After giving Sasuke those final words, A picked his stomach back up and walked away, leaving a fried Sasuke unconscious in the dirt.

[X-X-X]

Meanwhile, where the edge of the western wing used to be…

"Ah… there you are!" Karin yelled, the four Frost ninja she, Sasuke, and Sakura saved from the Frost Daimyo's punishment entering her range of vision as she ran. The four of them turned their heads to look in her direction, signalling to Karin that they had regained consciousness, though they remained bound by _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ as she left them before. Then all of their eyes twitched and their jaws dropped, which confused Karin.

"What's with the faces? It's just me!" Karin said as she approached them. "The battle's over, so I came here to untie you!"

Karin released the team of Frost ninja from their bonds as soon as she arrived. Once she did so, all four of the ninja began pointing past Karin in terror, towards the remains of the Frost Daimyo's palace.

"Oh yeah… Jashin burned the whole castle to the ground. Sucks a bunch for you guys, doesn't it?" said Karin.

"But aren't _**you**_ Lord Jashin?" one of the shinobi from the group asked in confusion.

"No, I'm not. Sorry we tricked you like that. I'm still Karin Uzumaki!"

Karin's expression quickly saddened. "Truth is, your god is dead now, and so is the Frost Daimyo. I was there when they both died. I figured you have a right to know what happened to the people you devoted your lives to."

"Then Lord Jashin's prophecy was false!" the kunoichi shrieked. "Your body was to become His… Lord Daimyo was to become the everlasting king of the entire world, with Lord Jashin as the god we all bow to! That prophecy cannot come to pass if you killed them both!"

"Actually… we didn't kill either of them."

Karin's revelation shocked all four ninja into silence. The Uzumaki continued without waiting for a reply:

"Ultimately, the one who invalidated the prophecy was _Jashin himself._ He killed the Frost Daimyo to keep him from talking, and once we defeated Jashin and reduced him to just a tiny pool of blood, he killed himself to avoid an eternity of humiliation. Your god seemed to have less faith in the prophecy than anyone who worshipped him, even though he was the one who made the prophecy in the first place, having stolen the body of his own son to share it…"

"I don't believe you!" another of the shinobi protested. "Lord Jashin… He might have manipulated and killed and destroyed with no remorse or hesitation, but to do so against his own loyal followers… and to cover up his own massacres?! That's a direct violation of the Fifth Commandment!"

"That's enough…" the kunoichi hung her head in shame. "No one in all of history has been able to adhere to the Ten Commandments of Jashin perfectly. It was foolish for us to believe Lord Jashin was any different. He was born a human, so he shared the same human faults as all of us, no matter how divine his powers might have been. He wasn't the god we all expected him to be, anyway..."

"Then what do we do with our lives?! Serving Lord Jashin and Lord Daimyo has been the sole point to our existence since birth! No, even before that! Our families served as Lord Daimyo's trusted _Guides to His Holy Grail_ since the formation of the Hidden Frost Village!"

"Excuse me?" Karin interjected. "You said your families were the _Guides to the Holy Grail?_ Like… the team that helped Hidan reach it?!"

"Yeah, our parents did that." the third shinobi explained. "We were still in the Ninja Academy when that mission went down… We learned our skills in elemental jutsu from our parents, who learned them from their parents. We're the third generation of the _Guides to His Holy Grail…_ "

"I had no idea… So your parents allowed for Hidan to gain the power he needed to kill Mom."

"We would not hold it against you if you killed us on the spot for being the children of those who led Lord Hidan to His Holy Grail." the kunoichi took out a kunai from her back pouch and got on her knees, offering it to Karin. "Lord Jashin's Seventh Commandment dictates that one treat the child as one would treat the parent, after all…"

Karin crossed her arms and looked away in belligerence. "To hell with Jashin's Ten Commandments! It's clear to me now that you didn't become a follower of Jashin's _by choice_ like Hidan did; you were _pressured_ in to it because of your family heritage… it's the only way of life the Frost Daimyo ever exposed you to! You've had no way of appreciating other possible paths! At least until now! With the Frost Daimyo and Jashin dead, you're free to choose _**any path you want!**_ "

In response to Karin's rant, the quartet of Frost ninja all bowed to the Uzumaki and started giving praises:

"How _merciful…_ " said the first shinobi.

"How _powerful…_ " said the second.

"How _insightful…_ " said the third.

"How _beautiful…_ " said the kunoichi.

Karin looked down at them all, confused. "Um… what are you guys doing? I didn't say anything about you kneeling before me…"

"We have decided on a new path!" the four shouted in unison. "We will renounce Lord Jashin as our god… and worship _**you**_ instead, _Your Magnificence!_ Please grant us the honour of being the founders of… _**KARINISM!**_ "

Karin promptly slapped the four of them with _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ simultaneously:

"No… that's not what I had in mind at all! For one thing, I'm not a _goddess_ or anything like it. I'm only really good at sensing, and just slightly above average everywhere else… You're free to call me Lady Karin if you revere me _that much_ , but worshiping me like you worshiped Jashin is off the table! You're just going to put me on a divine pedestal that I'll eventually fail to live up to, just like what happened with Jashin! You have the freedom to pursue _any path in life you want;_ living the same life over again under a different name is a total waste of your time!"

"Oh… then I guess we should just kill you!" the right-most shinobi said as he pulled a kunai out of his back pouch and tried to stab Karin from his position. "Lord Jashin's Seventh Commandment… You're the _great great great granddaughter_ of Usurper Kagura… You deserve to perish for taking his rightful place as Clan Leader away, ungrateful-"

"I go out of my way to save your lives from the Frost Daimyo's wrath and _**I'm**_ the ungrateful one?" Karin asked rhetorically as she casually kicked the kunai out of the shinobi's hand. All four kept silent. "Where did you get the idea my clan was _ungrateful_ anyway?"

"It was Lord Daimyo's teachings…" the kunoichi answered.

 _Figures… they know nothing else._ Karin thought.

"Nearly 150 years ago, the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked Lord Daimyo's home village, but Lord Jashin killed him." The kunoichi continued. "Lord Jashin… He wanted the credit he _deserved_ for killing the Nine-Tails, and Lord Daimyo happily gave it to him as _**His Third Mortal Miracle**_ in gratitude for saving his family. But I doubt Lord Jashin would have bothered if _your own clan_ didn't sell him out because of some ' _evil_ ' chakra! And gave _Kagura the First_ the credit for killing the Nine-Tails instead of Lord Jashin on top of that!"

"I see… I suppose my ancestors could have been seen as ungrateful from the Frost Daimyo's perspective."

Karin sighed. _That's where it all started… Jashinism, the Kagura Dynasty, Kurama's death and his history with the Uzumaki… It all began with that one incident 150 years ago. Come to think of it, Jashin discovered Curse Energy shortly after Kurama's death, and we still don't know how he actually managed it. Could Jashin having Curse Energy be a direct result of killing Kurama? I don't think my logic is wrong, but I don't know how those two events could possibly be related… There's a piece from the puzzle missing, and now that Jashin's dead we might never dig it up… Oh what am I doing dwelling on this? I told Sasuke to drop the issue and here I am still trying to solve it… I'm such a hypocrite…_

"You've gotten awfully quiet…" one of the shinobi nervously said, snapping Karin to attention.

"Sorry about that. Was just lost in thought is all… Anyway, I won't be worshiped by you, but I'm not averse to providing _guidance_ for your new path."

Karin then smirked. "And I know the right place to start: Nodan wants to speak with you. Follow me and you can hear him out!"

With that, Karin began running up to the ruins of the northern hall, where Nodan and the other Frost ninja laid waiting. These four, with nothing else to do at this point, decided to follow her.

"Lady Karin… Allow us to introduce ourselves!" the kunoichi shouted during the dash. "My name is Byakko! I hold the key to the Trial of Earth!"

"I'm Seiryu! I hold the key to the Trial of Wind!" said the first shinobi.

"I am Genbu! I hold the key to the Trial of Water!" said the second shinobi.

"And call me Suzaku! I hold the Fire that lights the way!" said the last shinobi.

Karin looked back to the team with a smile. "Nice to finally know your names, Byakko, Seiryu, Genbu, Suzaku! I'll make sure not to forget them!"

[X-X-X]

At the northern wing…

"Uh, hello there, Frost ninja…"

Nodan was addressing the thirteen who were still confined by Karin's _Adamantine Sealing Chains_. They unanimously gave him the evil eye in return. "My name is Nodan, Hidan's father and Judan's son…"

One of the Frost ninja spat in his direction. "We know who you are."

Nodan nervously nodded. "Ah, of course…"

"Did you finally decide to follow _The Way of Jashin?_ " another Frost ninja asked, staring at the stomach in Nodan's hands and the hole in his midsection. "You had your stomach removed without dying…"

"No… the previous Frost Daimyo force-fed me blood from the Holy Grail. I did not inherit this power of my own volition. You all already know this..."

"Hold on… you just said 'previous'!" a third Frost ninja remarked. "Does that mean Lord Daimyo is _**not**_ Lord Daimyo anymore?!"

"That is what I wish to speak with you about…" Nodan took a deep breath. "The truth of the matter is -"

" _ **Wait up!**_ "

Nodan looked to his right in response to the voice that interrupted him to find that Karin was running toward him, followed by four more Frost ninja.

"Your audience isn't complete!" Karin added.

Nodan bowed his head. "Yes, I had almost forgotten that team… Thank you for bringing them here, Lady Karin."

"Don't thank _me_. This team decided to hear your news on their own." Karin looked behind her and winked. Then she faced Nodan once more. "Then again, I'm curious about this news myself… so if you don't mind, I'll count myself as a member of your audience too!"

"Please feel free." Nodan nodded then turned to face his audience, which now counted eighteen with Karin, Byakko, Seiryu, Genbu, and Suzaku sitting by the others. Karin released the rest from her chains, but remained ready to restrain anyone again if they tried to attack anyone else nearby.

"Now then… I wanted to gather the Hidden Frost ninja here to inform you all that who you knew as the Frost Daimyo _perished_ along with this palace. This country is currently without a leader."

Nodan's revelation startled the thirteen Frost ninja not counting Byakko, Seiryu, Genbu, and Suzaku. Byakko would, however, gasp once she made a certain inference:

"But then, the one to succeed him and become the next Frost Daimyo is…"

"Yes… the only one in line for the position is _me._ "

Nodan's declaration did not surprise anyone present save for Karin, whose eyes promptly widened with shock:

"Wait… _**you're**_ the next Frost Daimyo?!"

"Father and my predecessor were first cousins." Nodan explained. "Specifically, their parents were the children of the Frost Daimyo from 150 years ago. I… did not know this myself until earlier today."

 _So Hidan was descended from royalty and he had no idea… We were more alike than I thought…_ Karin thought.

"That means Nodan, son of Judan the _**Traitor**_ , is now in charge of this country…" Seiryu bitterly remarked.

"But you're already Head Ninja of the Hidden Hot Water Village!" Byakko objected. "Are you intending to _**usurp**_ the previous Lord Daimyo's plan to be both at once?!"

Nodan shook his head. "No one should possess that level of power. Before I can fulfil my duties as Frost Daimyo I intend to return to the Hidden Hot Water Village, resign from my title as Head Ninja, and appoint a successor. Until that is complete, the citizens of the Land of Frost are to send mission requests to the Hot Water Daimyo for review. It is your responsibility to inform the Hidden Frost Village of this development, and spread the word to every settlement in the country from there."

"How long will it take you to choose a successor?" Genbu asked.

"I have one in mind right now, actually."

Nodan pointed to Karin, singling her out of the crowd. "Lady Karin, please stand."

Karin looked to her sides, her face red. She then stood up and faced the new Frost Daimyo, confused and embarrassed. Nodan promptly got on one knee and bowed. "Lady Karin, if you don't mind, I believe that you would be the ideal candidate for Head Ninja of the Hidden Hot Water Village. Would you succeed me?"

Karin paused in silence for a few seconds before responding. "I am very humbled by the offer, sir…" she then shook her head in protest, "… but I can't accept the position. I will _not_ be Head Ninja of the Hidden Hot Water."

"Why not?"

"Several reasons. For one thing, I might have been born in the Hidden Hot Water Village, but I registered as a ninja in the Hidden _Grass_ Village. I've never been a Hot Water ninja. That disqualifies me by default. And on top of that … I might not leave this country without going to prison. Sasuke and I knowingly intercepted a messenger bird mid-delivery while Sakura was with us. That means our pardons are revoked. Not saying I'm not capable, far from it… it's just, it wouldn't be proper for someone like me to take the job."

"I understand." Nodan nodded as he stood from the bow. "Then I will see what I can do when I return to the village. I will do my best to appoint a suitable successor as quickly as possible. Now, by your leave, Frost Ninja! You know what to do!"

"Yes sir…" one of the Frost ninja muttered as all seventeen stood up and walked away.

After they all left earshot…

"You have a lot of work ahead of you, Nodan, or rather _Daimyo_." Karin remarked. "I could feel it in their chakra… every last one of them hates your guts."

Nodan sighed. "I expected as much. But I still intend to do everything I can to restore peace and order to this country. I believe that the curse Jashin placed on the Land of Frost has finally been lifted, and though it will take time, we may yet begin to heal."

Karin smiled. "I believe so too."

Just then, Karin sensed three people rise from the pit just south of them. "What timing! Jugo's back with Sakura, and they finished putting C back together! Let's regroup and put everyone's stomachs back in!"

[X-X-X]

With C fully healed, Sakura carefully placed the stomachs of everyone else Jashin controlled back in their bodies. Afterwards, with C's and Karin's help, Sakura closed everyone's wounds and restored them to health. It wasn't long before everyone was healthy once more, with only Sasuke and Fuzai asleep.

"So what happens now?" Tenten asked the group.

"I return to the Hidden Hot Water Village to name a successor." Nodan said. "Then my wife and I give Hidan a proper burial, and after that… I come back here to take up my position as Frost Daimyo."

"Sasuke, Karin, and I are going back to the Hidden Leaf for sure…" Sakura solemnly added. "… They're under arrest for intercepting messenger birds as of right now."

"That's not right." Jugo protested. "They saved all of us… they shouldn't go to prison for doing the right thing."

A single tear fell from Sakura's eyes. "Tell that to Kakashi-Sensei if you feel so strongly about it… I know I will."

"Yeah, we should tell Kakashi-Sensei about what happened here!" Tenten said. "Besides, I'd feel bad about leaving the Hidden Leaf to go look for all the Senjutsu Schools in the world if I didn't tell Lee and Guy-Sensei first!"

"You're right, Tenten." Jugo nodded. "We will head for the Hidden Leaf as well."

"We're going back home too." Darui interjected, sadly pointing behind himself to Fuzai. "We have a prisoner we need to escort back to his cell."

A walked over to Sasuke and grabbed the Shichiseiken from next to him. "I'll also be making preparations to move to the Hidden Leaf after that. If Uchiha gets to walk, then his master must be nearby to begin teaching him!"

"I believe this belongs to you." Jugo took the Kokinjo off his body and threw it to C, who caught it on instinct and subsequently wrapped it around himself.

"Thank you." C gave a salute, then turned around and made a few steps east, toward the Land of Lightning. "We should get going."

"Let me wake up Fuzai." Darui jogged to his unconscious friend and tapped him on the shoulder several times. "Yo, Fuzai! Rise and shine! We've got to head home! The mission's over!"

In a few seconds, Fuzai woke up, though when he did…

"Sasuke! Where's Sasuke?!"

Fuzai screamed in frenzy, looking around frantically for any signs of him, eventually zoning in on Sasuke's body. "Wake Sasuke up! There's something I have to tell him right now!"

"You've never been this _cranky_ before, man!"

Darui struggled to hold Fuzai down, and looked to everyone else with a pained smile once he did so. "Sorry for Fuzai's outburst… Let's do what he says and wake Sasuke up. It seems urgent."

"Gotcha!" Karin excitedly nodded and started shaking Sasuke by the shoulders. "Get up, idiot!"

Sasuke awoke, slowly sat up, and noticed his body had recovered from the Iron Claw during his sleep. _So Sakura healed me while I was knocked out… Anyway, what's going on here?_

"Fuzai has something he wants to tell you!" Karin shouted, stepping away from Sasuke to give him space to stand.

"Okay, sheesh…" Sasuke walked over to Fuzai and bent down next to him. "What do you want to say?"

"What I want to say is this…" Fuzai took a deep breath, sweating bullets, anxious of his own message. "On March 1st, a little over a month from now, it will be the 150th anniversary of the Nine-Tails'… no, _Kurama's_ death."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "And that's important because…?"

Fuzai gulped. "Because that is also the day _**Shuryo Jikan**_ will come… It is the day _the entire world will be destroyed!_ "

Everyone fell dead silent.


	69. Chapter 68: Shuryo Jikan

A turned his back to the ensemble in disgust. "The world is coming to an end in a month? How ludicrous! No one in their right mind would-"

"He's telling the truth."

Everyone turned their heads in Karin's direction, responding with shock and surprise to her declaration.

"How are you sure, Karin?" Jugo asked. "Fuzai's lies can't be detected…"

"The way he's acting, for one. In such a panic that _Raikage_ over there has to hold him down? It's _obvious_ that Fuzai believes it. Also… it _makes sense._ Jashin's secret could have been this _Shuryo Jikan_ , whatever it is. I mean, the Shinobi Alliance was only created because Akatsuki posed a big enough threat for the Five Great Nations and the Land of Iron to join forces. What were to happen if there was a power so massive it threatened _all life on the planet?_ "

"Everyone would _stop fighting at once_ to deal with their common enemy…" Sakura inferred.

"Bingo! And what if Jashin _knew how to stop Shuryo Jikan?_ Then the entire world would follow his lead. In other words, everyone would worship him at the drop of a hat in their desperation to save the planet from total annihilation!"

"That doesn't explain how _Fuzai_ knows about it now." Sasuke pointed out, looking back down at him. "Fuzai … Who told you about Shuryo Jikan?"

" _You did_ , Sasuke…"

The Uchiha tilted his head in confusion. "This is the first I've ever heard of it."

"You don't remember… your fears were valid, then. To be specific, you told me when you were inside my head, right after driving Jashin out with Kurama's help."

"I did?" Sasuke sat down to ease the tension in his legs from squatting, and then furrowed his brow. "Tell me everything that went on then. And tell us everything you know about Shuryo Jikan."

"You got it… I think I'll be fine from now on, Darui…"

The new Raikage let Fuzai go and give him the space to sit up. "It started when you landed the final blow on Jashin to knock him out of my body." Fuzai said. "You combined the Chidori with the Human Path to effectively punch Jashin's soul out of my body."

"And because of that, I read Jashin's memories?"

Fuzai nodded. "Among them, you picked out a specific memory you had to share with me at any cost. You were afraid that you might not remember the memories you read inside my head once you'd left my body, so you showed me the memory you wanted me to have with the Sharingan, and told me to tell you about it as soon as I could, in case you really did forget it."

"And that memory was Jashin's discovery of this Shuryo Jikan." Sasuke inferred.

"So how did that happen?" Karin asked.

"I assume we all know that Jashin landed the killing blow on Kurama 150 years ago, yes?" Fuzai looked up at the crowd inquisitively, who all nodded. "Well, after killing Kurama, Jashin started having _nightmares._ A demonic voice would speak to him in his sleep."

"What did that voice say to Jashin?" Sakura wondered.

"It was just the same cryptic chant over and over again: _You will pay for extinguishing the Light of Life from the world._ But one day, the voice spoke to him while Jashin was awake. It started the same way as before, but on that day, Jashin was able to talk back to the voice. He asked just what the hell this Light of Lifethat he extinguished _was_ , and how he would pay for it, if the constant nightmares weren't payment enough."

"Let me guess… the light of life was _Kurama._ " said Karin.

"That's what Jashin believed too. Anyway, the voice wasn't sure what form the Light of Life took when Jashin extinguished it, but it seemed like _every living thing on this planet_ had a tiny fragment of it inside them. After hearing that, Jashin suspected that the Light of Life the voice was talking about was _chakra_ , and Jashin killed Kurama, the largest and most powerful being of _pure chakra_ on the planet. Jashin told the voice what he believed, but also clarified to the voice that while he dealt the final blow, killing Kurama was a joint effort done by the entire Uzumaki clan, and that the _whole clan_ should pay for killing Kurama rather than him alone. The voice responded… by giving Jashin an order."

"What kind of order?" Sasuke asked.

Fuzai's tone went bleak. "The voice told Jashin to _bring his clan to extinction_ as punishment for extinguishing the Light of Life. If Jashin failed, then the voice would _destroy the entire planet_ , punishing _everyone_ for consuming the light of life 150 years later. Then it would create the world over again, allowing for new life to begin without the light within them…"

"And to give Jashin as much time as possible, the source of that voice gave Jashin _Curse Energy_ so he wouldn't be killed before the end of his natural life span!" Karin inferred.

 _So I was right. Jashin got Curse Energy because he killed Kurama… But does that mean we were all wrong about him? Was Jashin trying to destroy our clan so he could save the entire world?_

"Actually, the owner of the voice originally didn't intend to give Jashin any immediate help." Fuzai continued. "It was going to leave Jashin to take his time and make his own decision, but Jashin agreed to destroy his clan much faster than the voice anticipated, and even asked for the voice's help in doing it. The voice _did as Jashin suggested_ by placing a Curse on him that would enhance his body and mind so he could better accomplish the task ahead of him."

"We know what happens to the body already." Jugo said. "It never lets go of the mind regardless of injury; only atomic destruction is enough to shake it as long as one keeps performing the _Ceremonial Killing._ "

"As for the mind itself…" Fuzai sighed. "It would be slowly, subtly altered so that _destructive instinct_ overpowers any other emotion, allowing a subject to perform feats of cruelty and carnage that most life forms would be unable to stomach. The voice thought it would be beneficial for one looking to destroy his clan. This would _also_ stop if the _Cermonial Killing_ isn't performed on time."

 _That description of altering Jashin's mind to do things it wouldn't on its own… it sounds like Koto Amatsukami…_ Sakura thought. "Does that mean Jashin wasn't in control of himself after the Curse? That he was _brainwashed_ to do all those terrible things?" she asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "I don't think so. Jashin's god complex was around _from the start._ Being born with Blood Style and mastering the Adamantine Sealing Chains faster than anyone else convinced him that he was innately superior to the rest of humanity, curse or no curse."

"And on top of that, Jashin spent over a century _not_ killing people, whether in the Shinigami's dimension or in the Southern Hideout!" Karin added. "He violated his own First Commandment, and while the negative side-effects of the Curse on the _body_ might have been nullified by Dad's body not being cursed, the same isn't true for his _mind!_ Any 'help' the Curse gave to Jashin was long gone by the time any of us met him!"

"He was also more than willing to sacrifice his entire clan…" Jugo further added. "He didn't even have to spend any time _thinking_ about that decision."

"Nonetheless," Fuzai interjected, "that was the last time the voice ever spoke to Jashin. After that encounter, he decided to call whatever was speaking to him _Shuryo Jikan_ , for 'end time', since it promised to bring about the end of the world if Jashin failed. Kagura the First sensed Jashin's chakra having turned 'evil' later that day. You know the rest."

 _No wonder Jashin was so confident about sealing himself in the Shinigami… Even if Black Zetsu defied their plan and left him there, Jashin would have just waited for the world to be destroyed and recreated, and then break himself out and take over the new planet! His knowledge about Shuryo Jikan was his insurance!_ Sasuke thought, his eyes widening with horror.

Darui held his own forehead in exasperation. "Holy shit, Fuzai… The world's going to end in just over a month. What can we do to stop it?"

"The solution is simple, as always!"

Immediately after shouting, A turned to face the crowd and pointed at Karin with the Shichiseiken. "We finish what Jashin started! The world will not be destroyed if _all the remaining Uzumaki die before March 1st!_ "

C gasped. "What are you saying, Lord A? That we murder innocent people for the sake of a better world? We'd be no better than _Akatsuki_ if we resorted to those methods."

"And that would mean killing Lady Tsunade and Naruto along with Karin…" said Sakura.

"Kabuto may not be exempt either." Jugo added. "He has Karin's DNA… that might be enough to qualify him as an Uzumaki in Shuryo Jikan's eyes."

"It's alright, guys… really." Karin calmly spoke up, walking closer to Sasuke and Fuzai. "I'm willing to die if it means the rest of the world can live. If Naruto, Kabuto, and Granny Hokage are okay with it too, then I have no objections…"

Sasuke shook his head, stood up and faced her. "That's not true, Karin. We have our sentences to return to, Naruto needs to write _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi_ , you'll be leaving Suigetsu behind… You have _many_ reasons to keep on living. If you choose to die despite that, and the others die along with you, all four of you will have become _sacrifices._ Didn't you just say earlier today that you don't want anyone to feel that pain ever again?"

"I did, but…"

Karin couldn't find a rebuttal to Sasuke's argument.

"And another thing… I also made a vow today, that I would never sever the bonds I've made again. I can't… no, I _won't_ just sit by and let you and Naruto throw your lives away. Naruto… he fought tooth and nail to make sure I didn't lose myself to the darkness. It's time I returned the favour."

"I understand your determination, Uchiha, but those are but _pretty words._ " A replied. "Believe me, if there were another way to stop Shuryo Jikan, I would take it in a heartbeat. But alas, there's no alternative than for the Uzumaki clan to go extinct."

"No… there might just be another way."

Sasuke approached Karin and pressed his index and middle fingers on her forehead. Karin faintly blushed at the gesture, dumbfounded. "And this woman here learned what it was around dawn this morning."

"I did?"

Karin thought back on everything she learned since Jashin took her to the Land of Whirlpools. Suddenly her eyes widened:

"Yeah, I did! Great Great Grandma and my namesake, _Karin Uzumaki the First_ , sensed the same Curse Energy in the man who murdered Kamina and Yoko after Jashin was first sealed in the Shinigami. She sensed Curse Energy in _**Black Zetsu!**_ We still don't know whether Black Zetsu drank from the Holy Grail or not to get it!"

"If Black Zetsu did drink from the Holy Grail, then Jashin didn't see him do it." Fuzai remarked. "Jashin had no memory of that. If he did, then Sasuke would have shown it to me for sure."

"If Black Zetsu didn't receive Curse Energy from the Holy Grail, then it's possible he, or his _creator_ , was in contact with Shuryo Jikan as well." Sasuke added, removing his hand from Karin's forehead.

"You mean _Kaguya Otsutsuki…_ " Sakura realized, gasping. "No… you don't plan to _**release Kaguya**_ , do you?!"

Sasuke shook his head. "No, nothing like that. Kaguya's release would mean the end of the world either way. I was just thinking that maybe, before joining the battle at the end of the war, Black Zetsu split himself apart like Jashin did. We could track down any pieces of him that might still be lingering in this world, and figure out just how he has Curse Energy."

"Come to think of it, Black Zetsu _did_ split himself apart while he was controlling Obito to stop Lord Fourth from giving Kurama's Yin half to Naruto…" Sakura recalled. "It's at least possible Black Zetsu left a piece of himself behind before coming to fight, just in case his plan to revive Kaguya failed…"

"And someone as cunning as Black Zetsu would have _definitely_ done such a thing if given the chance. He's far too smart to put all his eggs in one basket, so to speak." Sasuke continued. "He certainly didn't on his path to reviving Madara."

"Black Zetsu will be extremely hard to track." said Karin. "I mean, he managed to get the drop on _Kamina_ , and he was a better sensor than me!"

"It might be hard, but it won't be _impossible._ " Sasuke replied. "We can start by investigating his actions and whereabouts before joining the final battle of the war, and according to Jashin, his contact with Shuryo Jikan is something that Black Zetsu did _not_ know about. If Jashin was right about that, then Black Zetsu won't expect us to be looking for him, and might lower his guard."

A relented and withdrew the Shichiseiken. "Very well, then. I'm on board with this strategy. You have one month to shake Black Zetsu down for answers before the Uzumaki will be asked to die."

"I'm willing to provide assistance." Nodan interjected. "The first step of this mission is to discover Black Zetsu's whereabouts before the last battle of the war. As Jugo and Tenten have already been made aware, Black Zetsu was fighting the Daimyo Protection Squad when Madara Uchiha was revived. I'd be happy to send a list of the ninja that were part of the Daimyo Protection Squad, and those who actually participated in the fighting can narrow down the list to those who were there after Madara's revival and still alive."

"That would be appreciated, but you have a lot of work to do as is. As Supreme Commander of the Shinobi Alliance, I should have the same list stowed away back home. I'll find my copy and send it to the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Mist through messenger bird. Off the top of my head, I recall the majority of the Daimyo Protection Squad was comprised of ninja from those two villages. We can also rule out the Mizukage, Captain of the Daimyo Protection Squad, because she had to leave to battle Madara with the rest of us Five Kage… Actually, we could just locate the Daimyo Protection Squad's _Vice-Captain_ , who should have remained with the Daimyo for the entire war, and could tell us what happened to Black Zetsu after the Mizukage left…"

"Do you remember who the Vice-Captain of the Daimyo Protection Squad _was?_ " Sasuke asked.

"Yes. It's the Mizukage's bodyguard, the wielder of _Hiramekarei…_ I think Chojuro was his name?"

Sasuke, Karin, and Jugo all looked at each other, eyes wide and jaws dropped. Sakura noticed this and followed suit.

"What is it? Do you know where Chojuro is?!" A asked upon witnessing the spectacle.

Sasuke, Karin, Jugo, and Sakura nodded in unison.

"Well I'll be damned! Then what are you waiting for?! Go find him and ask him about Black Zetsu!"

"Not yet, A. We go to the Hidden Leaf first." said Sasuke.

"You can withhold your business about your pardon until _**AFTER**_ the world is saved!"

"There's another reason we need to go." Jugo clarified.

"Yeah… It wouldn't be right to see Chojuro without a _certain someone_ with us." Sakura added.

"I wonder what he's doing right now…" Karin thought aloud, blushing as she looked up at the night sky. "It's only been a few days but I already miss him… _sooooo much…_ "

* * *

(A/N): Hello again. Now that Jashin has finally been defeated and his secret has been posthumously exposed, the finale is ready to begin! This would be another of those good times to collect your thoughts about the story and possibly leave a review. Also, since Summer is now upon us I have some more free time, so chapters will be coming out more quickly, to the tone of 2-3 chapters per week, until the fic is complete. Hope you keep enjoying _Hawk's Final Hunt_ until the end.


	70. Chapter 69: Treasured Sword

"… and that's the situation as I understand it," said Kabuto, concluding his account of everything that had occurred between Suigetsu's soul being taken at the Southern Hideout and Sasuke releasing all the souls from the Shinigami.

"I hope Hinata's doing okay…" Shino replied, leaving Katsuyu to look out the hospital room's window. "Losing Naruto and us all at once…"

Kiba pat Shino on the shoulder. "Hinata's strong. She pulled through long enough to save us, and Naruto's probably with her right now. There's nothing to worry about. Right, Akamaru?"

"Arf!"

Shino nodded. "You're right."

"For now, how about we sniff out Kurenai-Sensei and let her know we're better?"

"Good idea, Kiba."

Shino turned from the window, passed Kabuto and the fourth patient, and went out the door with Kiba and Akamaru shortly behind him. Kiba waved goodbye as he walked away and said:

"See ya, Suigetsu! Don't let those fangs get dull any time soon!"

Kabuto sat down in a chair next to Suigetsu, who remained lying inside Katsuyu. "You've been unusually quiet…"

Suigetsu looked up at the ceiling. "I've just been thinking about what I should do. It's too late for me to follow Jugo, Sasuke has enough people with him for a full ride on Odaka, and if Karin's not with him then she's on her way back here with Killer B. And I can't go off to fight Chojuro without telling the rest of Taka where I've gone. They'll be expecting to see me when they come back…"

"Excuse me? You're planning to fight Chojuro?"

"Yeah… After avenging Big Bro Mangetsu together, we promised to return to that spot and fight for ownership of Hiramekarei when we finished our missions. And the Shinigami's release means _Mission Complete_ , I think…"

"You should stay in the village and wait for the rest of Taka to return with the results of the mission, then."

"What am I supposed to do while I'm here? I've only been here once, and most of that time was spent down in the Naka Shrine. I have no idea where to go…"

"I think the first thing you should do is see the Hokage. An audience with him will be… most enlightening for you." Kabuto said as he pushed up his glasses and smirked.

"The Hokage? Sasuke's teacher and the guy that fought Zabuza four years ago?"

Suddenly, Suigetsu's eyes lit up in wonder and he jumped out of Katsuyu in ecstasy. "Yeah, I should definitely meet him! … Umm… where can I find him?"

"Here, let me show you."

Kabuto walked over to the window and motioned for Suigetsu to follow him, which he did, and Kabuto pointed to a building off in the distance. "See that red building with the symbol for 'fire' on the front, just below Hokage Mountain? That's the Hokage's office building. Head over there and you're sure to meet him."

"Thanks, Kabuto."

Suigetsu saluted, and then turned around and started walking away. When he reached the door, however, Suigetsu stopped in place and looked over his shoulder to Kabuto once again, his brow furrowing:

"Before I leave, I have to know… Did you know about Orochimaru's role in Big Bro Mangetsu's murder?"

Kabuto doubled back in bewilderment, but quickly composed himself and sighed.

"… Yes, I did."

Suigetsu looked away. "I thought so… Figures you'd know if you had Big Bro's DNA on hand to summon him with _Impure World Resurrection…_ "

Kabuto looked back out the window with regret. "I'm sorry… I won't report you for assault if you take your anger out on me…"

"I appreciate the offer, but I've had enough _revenge_ for one life time already."

Suigetsu's refusal stunned Kabuto speechless. Without waiting for a reply, Suigetsu smiled and spoke one more sentence before leaving for the Hokage's office:

"I have a better way of paying my respects."

[X-X-X]

As soon as Suigetsu left the hospital, he veered for the Hokage's office building in a dash. However, he quickly slowed down to take in the atmosphere of the village bathed in morning light. Compared to the villages he'd already visited, it was a decidedly middling experience. Not as dry or as hot as the Hidden Sand, but not as wet as the Hidden Rain and warmer than the Land of Iron; not as bright as the Hidden Cloud, but not as foggy as the Hidden Mist. Compared to the extreme climates of other hidden villages, Suigetsu found the balanced atmosphere refreshing. A little boring, perhaps, but refreshing. It then occurred to Suigetsu that Karin, after completing their mission, might want to settle down in this village permanently. This was where all the remaining members of her clan lived, and Sasuke lived here too. The more Suigetsu thought about it, the more he was convinced he had to move here as well.

 _This place isn't so bad… if Karin wants to call this home, then I'll call this home too._

As Suigetsu got within proximity of the Hokage's office building, he saw two men just outside the front door facing each other, one standing and one sitting in a wheelchair. From what little he could see from the distance between them, the standing man had spiky grey hair and wore a mask on the bottom half of his face, while the man in a wheelchair had a black bowl cut. Suigetsu was startled by the standing man's appearance, and looked up to Hokage Mountain to confirm his suspicions: that was the Hokage.

 _But who's the guy in the wheelchair? Lee's with Albino Sasuke and Granny… is it Lee's father?_

During Suigetsu's contemplation, he got within earshot of them, and started to hear them talk:

"Come on, Kakashi! I'm ready for C-Rank missions!" the man in the wheelchair shouted.

"No, Guy. Kabuto and Tsunade are still not sure your body's ready for anything higher than D-Rank." The Hokage replied, his tone serious.

"Your students lost limbs too and they're not being _**held back**_ on account of their injuries! This is _discrimination against the elderly…_ What's happened to your youth?! Give me a C-Rank mission already! We need to show the next generation that we adults are still a force to be reckoned with, so they don't get _**complacent**_ with their training!"

Kakashi crossed his arms. "Your injuries are more severe than Naruto's and Sasuke's, Guy. _They_ lost an arm each; _you're_ paralyzed from the waist down _for life_ , and you also suffered _permanent damage_ to your heart. If you push yourself too far, even open a single Gate, then your heart will stop and you'll _die on the spot_. It's a miracle you managed to survive opening all eight gates at all, even _**with**_ Naruto's intervention! Don't waste that second cha-"

"Excuse me!" Suigetsu interjected, catching Kakashi's and Guy's attention. They both looked his way with eyebrows raised, staring at him intently. "You said you opened all eight gates and survived… Guy, was it?"

Kakashi and Guy remained silent for a moment longer before Kakashi shifted his gaze Guy's way and furrowed his brow:

"Guy… a member of the 'next generation' is addressing you."

Guy responded by stroking his chin in contemplation. "Hmm… Kid, open your mouth."

Suigetsu shrugged and opened his mouth wide, showing him his toothy grin.

"As I thought… all your teeth are sharp! You're related to Kisame Hoshigaki, aren't you?! His _son_ , perhaps?! Come to get _revenge_ on me for besting your father, is that it?!"

Suigetsu and Kakashi smacked their own foreheads and sighed in unison.

"No, I'm not related to Kisame Hoshigaki, _Big Green Beast!_ My name is Suigetsu _**Hozuki!**_ "

Guy creased his temples. "Hozuki… Hozuki… I think I've heard that name before…"

"He's Mangetsu's brother." said Kakashi. "Remember the Fourth Ninja World War? Our division fought him and the rest of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist… Ring any bells?"

"Wait, you two _**fought my brother**_ during the war?!" Suigetsu shouted. "Then you guys know what happened to the Swords of the Mist!"

 _I already know where Hiramekarei is, but the others… Kabuto was right; I hit the JACKPOT coming here!_ The Hozuki thought with glee.

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, we do. There's something I'd like to show you inside. Guy… if you'll excuse us."

The Hokage bowed and began walking toward the door to the building, motioning for Suigetsu to follow him. Before anyone could make their way inside, however, Guy rolled his wheelchair to block the entryway with his body:

"Hold on just a minute! You, Suigetsu Hozuki… You've seen my student Rock Lee recently, haven't you? How is he?! I worry for his future… He stopped accepting challenges from rivals and started to slack on his training after the war! I believe Neji's passing and my condition hampered his spirits…"

"Your student's getting better. Seeing Sasuke again and some fun in the sun was all it took to reinvigorate him. The legacy of the Green Beast is still going strong."

Guy cried tears of joy. "Really? You mean it?!"

Suigetsu silently smiled and nodded.

"Then I must make a victory lap around the village at once! I leave you to your business, Kakashi, Suigetsu Hozuki!"

Guy then bolted off in his wheelchair, giving Suigetsu and Kakashi space to enter the Hokage's office building.

Following Kakashi's lead, Suigetsu walked down a hallway to a stairwell, and then down the stairs into a poorly lit basement. They took a few steps down the basement hall, stopping at a door to their right with two Leaf ninja standing at either side of the door, obviously guarding it. From the dim lighting, Suigetsu could see one of the ninja wore a bandana and had a toothpick in his mouth, while the other had a nasty scar on their face. Nonetheless, for guards to be stationed here, whatever the Hokage wanted to show him, Suigetsu was sure it was very important.

"Is it okay to bring _him_ in here, Lord Hokage?" one of the ninja asked, eyeing Suigetsu suspiciously.

"I'll be with him. It's fine. Now if you don't mind, Genma, Raido, we're heading inside."

Kakashi pulled a key out of his pant-pocket, unlocked the door, and pushed it open. He went in first and Suigetsu slowly followed, the latter beginning to shiver, anxious of the contents of this room. At the corner of his eye Suigetsu could see the pair of guards turn to face his back, watching his movements intently.

Suigetsu took a quick look at the room. It felt small and cramped, but that was because of the numerous boxes stacked in twos and threes lining the walls. Furthermore, several Fuma Shuriken were hung on the left and right walls. This was all Suigetsu could take in before his attention was stuck on the lone weapon hung on the wall opposite of the door he and the Hokage came in from. Immediately upon seeing this weapon, Suigetsu inched his right hand towards it.

"That's…!"

"Careful."

Kakashi casually grabbed Suigetsu's right wrist with his left hand, Suigetsu too distracted by the sight to liquefy and escape his grip. "If you touch it, you'll trigger the trap I set. Getting your pardon revoked over theft will be the _least_ of your worries after that, I can assure you. Sorry, but this item is for your eyes _only_ at the moment."

"What happens… if I touch?"

"You'll have summoned all eight of my Ninja Hounds, naturally." Kakashi explained in an amused tone. "They're very strong, strong enough to immobilize _Zabuza_ with the combined strength of their jaws. And even if you somehow manage to escape their grasp and the guards and flee from here, my dogs' scents will be _all over you_. Between the Inuzuka clan and myself, you won't get very far before your spoils are confiscated. Or you die, whichever comes easier to you."

"Zabuza… you say…" Suigetsu began to foam at the mouth.

"Now that I've shown this to you, we'll be heading to my office. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

Kakashi promptly turned around and practically dragged Suigetsu out the door, which Genma and Raido closed once they left. The only thing keeping Suigetsu from passing out due to shock was a single thought on his mind:

 _A lot of questions? Nah. I have just one. … Why the FUCK do you have_ _KUBIKIRIBOCHO?!_

[X-X-X]

"Here's some water. I think it'll help."

As Kakashi said this, he let a glass of water down on the Hokage's desk on the side opposite his own seat. Then he proceeded to sit down in the Hokage's chair. Suigetsu, sitting at the Hokage's desk on the opposite side, quickly picked up the glass and chugged down the water. Once he was finished drinking and refreshed, Suigetsu wiped the residue of foam and water off his face and shifted his focus to Kakashi, who had his hands clasped together and was leaning in.

"Kubikiribocho… Why do you have it?!" Suigetsu asked, the strength in his voice returning.

"It's a pretty long story, but I wouldn't have brought you here if I didn't intend on telling it. It starts with Pain, or rather Nagato, destroying this village. As it so happens, one of Team Seven's old clients showed up to help with the village's reconstruction. That was Tazuna of the Land of Waves."

"The Land of Waves, huh…" Suigetsu crossed his arms and thought over those words, before his eyes shot open. "Wait! That's where…"

"Where Team Seven and I fought Zabuza and Haku? Why, yes it is." Kakashi smiled under his mask. "At any rate, Tazuna was here for _another_ bit of news. He reported that Kubikiribocho, the sword we left at Zabuza's grave, was _stolen_ , and he asked me to let him know if I happened to find it. I had every intention of looking for it eventually, but the Five Kage Summit, and then the Fourth Ninja World War, kept me occupied."

"Then how do you have it now? You were made Hokage not long after the war ended…"

"Would you believe me if I said that _the sword found me_ _?_ You see, during the war, I ended up fighting Zabuza again. During the battle, the other Seven Swordsmen were revived, including Mangetsu. Your brother then summoned all the Swords of the Mist that weren't being wielded at the time. That includes Kubikiribocho, which was handed back to Zabuza by your brother. Eventually I defeated Zabuza again and took Kubikiribocho, and used it during my division's battle with the remaining Swordsmen. Remembering Tazuna, I kept the sword until the war ended to inform him that Kubikiribocho was found, but when I did, he told me to keep it. He believed it was safer in Hidden Leaf custody, and so in Hidden Leaf custody Kubikiribocho remains."

"You said it was stolen." Suigetsu remarked, shivering. "Did you ever learn… who the thief was?"

"Let me answer your question with another question." Kakashi's voice suddenly turned bitter. "Why would _the thief himself_ ask that question?"

Suigetsu's jaw dropped. Then he looked away in shame. "So you _did_ figure it out…"

"It was pretty easy to narrow down. When I first heard that Kubikiribocho had gone missing, I immediately began thinking Sasuke might have had something to do with it. After all, he was there when I placed Kubikiribocho at Zabuza's grave, so he'd know where it was. But it couldn't have been Sasuke's work alone. Going back to Zabuza's grave when he would have wanted to find Itachi and kill him as soon as possible didn't fit his character. The _motive_ belonged to someone else, like a _Rogue Mist Ninja_ that Sasuke recruited for information about Itachi's partner in Akatsuki, Kisame Hoshigaki. Perhaps Sasuke offered Kubikiribocho as payment for their services. So I looked at my copy of the Bingo Book for the list of all current Mist ninja who were at large, and there I found a particular _B-Class Rogue Ninja_ that would want Kubikiribocho more than any others. You know where I'm going with this, I imagine."

"Suigetsu Hozuki. Younger brother of Mangetsu Hozuki, and clan mate of Second Mizukage Gengetsu Hozuki. Wanted for deserting the Hidden Mist Village after the death of his brother. Wanted dead or alive, preferably alive. Possesses the Water Transformation Kekkei Genkai. Nearly immune to all forms of Taijutsu, unless enhanced by Lightning Style. _Idolizes his older brother and wishes to follow in his footsteps as a master of the Seven Swords of the Mist…_ "

Kakashi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You memorized your own Bingo Book entry?"

"Yeah… I kept reading it to remind myself of what I lived for when I was in the Hidden Sound. … It helped me retain my sanity through Orochimaru's experiments."

Kakashi looked away in sorrow. "I see… You must have had it pretty rough."

"I think I've been pretty lucky, all things considered. Sasuke, Karin, Jugo… I've had it _easy_ compared to the rest of my team. Save your pity for someone who's been through _true_ hell."

"Duly noted." Kakashi nodded and faced Suigetsu once more. "Anything else you'd like to know?"

"Come to think of it, yeah!" Suigetsu stood up and pointed at Kakashi. "Why did you show me Kubikiribocho and then just yank my chain like that?! You knew I stole it, yet you-"

"Sit back down and let me explain." Kakashi ordered with a harsh tone and a cold stare. Suigetsu quickly complied. "I showed you Kubikiribocho as a means of _challenging_ you."

Suigetsu tilted his head in confusion. " _Challenging_ me?"

"Yes. Since I've become Hokage I've been lacking a rival, and my training's suffered as a result. My students have all surpassed me, Guy can't provide a challenge in his current condition, and Obito is dead. I need someone to constantly keep me on my toes, pressuring me to improve. I think _you_ can be just that person."

"I get it!" Suigetsu smirked. "You want me to fight you for Kubikiribocho's ownership!"

"Precisely. You'll keep fighting me, and if you win _even once_ , you'll have proven yourself worthy of Kubikiribocho, and it will be yours. As you keep getting stronger, I'll be threatened by your improvement and get stronger in turn. At least, that's the theory."

"Yeah, I'm game!"

Suigetsu excitedly stood up and made the Seal of Confrontation. Kakashi's eyes widened with surprise.

"What? Sasuke taught this seal to me when Chojuro and I decided to settle Hiramekarei's ownership with a duel when our missions were over."

"Ah. Then allow me to indulge you." Kakashi stood up in turn and made the Seal of Confrontation as well. "Now we've finalized our pact of rivalry. When will your first challenge be?"

Suigetsu pointed his Seal of Confrontation at Kakashi's head and smirked. "How does _right now_ sound? I don't think I'll win on my first try, not against Sasuke's old man, but I have to do _something_ to pass the time until the rest of my team returns from their missions!"

Kakashi caught Suigetsu's arm with his own Seal of Confrontation. "Not here. We need to go someplace where we can go all out without _breaking_ anything. I wouldn't want to revoke your pardon on an account of collateral damage… I've got somewhere in mind."

The Hokage then released Suigetsu and promptly walked toward the door:

"If you want to see the place where Sasuke became a ninja, then follow me."


	71. Chapter 70: Road of Strongest Swordsman

Suigetsu followed Kakashi to a training ground on the outskirts of the village, the border marked with a wire fence. The first thing Suigetsu noticed about the area was that huge trees lined the entire visible perimeter.

 _So this is just one big forest? But the Land of Fire is almost nothing BUT forest! What's the point of boxing it up for a training ground if you can just leave the village for the same terrain?_

As Suigetsu continued traveling to the centre with Kakashi, his thoughts would they made it through the forest, revealing a fairly large plot of grass land with three small logs arranged in a line about ten feet or so away from what appeared to be a kunai made of stone protruding out of the ground. Beyond the small grass was a wide river that stretched on as far as Suigetsu's eyes could see, and on the other side of the river was even more grass land, then a forest composed of smaller trees than the ones he'd just walked past, with a flat-top mountain towering over said trees in the distance. Suigetsu was mesmerized by the natural beauty of the stage for his upcoming fight, and his eyes widened in awe.

 _I was wrong… this place was definitely worth boxing up. There's a little bit of_ _EVERYTHING_ _here!_

Kakashi finally stopped next to the three logs, and Suigetsu stopped in turn. Then Kakashi turned around to face Suigetsu and ask him a question:

"Did Sasuke ever tell you what his final exam for becoming a ninja was like?"

Suigetsu shook his head. "Can't say that he has. Up until the war ended Sasuke never really said _anything_ about his old team."

"Either way, our battles are going to be similar to it," said Kakashi as he pulled out a bell from his back pouch and held it out in front of Suigetsu. "See this bell? If you take it away from me in one hour, then you win."

"One hour?! But we're right next to each other! The battle would end in a minute at most as soon as we start!"

"I'm not finished. _You_ win if you take this bell away from me. _**I**_ win if I manage to find you and bring you back to this spot. I'm going to give you a _ten minute_ head start, and you get to choose any hiding place within the training ground. Then for the remaining _fifty_ minutes I try to find you and you try to take away the bell."

"Oh! So it's like we're playing _Ninja_ , but we're _both_ it at the same time?"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "I have a more apt comparison. Imagine that this bell is a document containing _vital information_ for your village that you've been assigned to retake from the enemy – that is, _me_ – by any means necessary. However, if you're captured by the enemy and brought to their base, they will torture you for even more information, and then kill you once you've provided everything you can. Furthermore, this whole area has been covered in explosive tags that are set to go off simultaneously in one hour, killing everyone inside the training ground when that time comes, hence the battle will be considered _a loss on both ends_ if time runs out."

"And I only get Kubikiribocho if I win."

Kakashi nodded in confirmation. Then he attached the bell to his right hip. "Any more questions before we begin?"

"Nah. I'm good."

"Then we start… _**NOW!**_ "

Kakashi closed his eyes, covered his ears, and turned his back to Suigetsu all at once. " _ **1!**_ … _ **2!**_ … _ **3!**_ …" He began counting the seconds at the top of his lungs, and the cue prompted Suigetsu to run for the hiding spot he'd already selected.

 _If I have any chance of taking on the Hokage, I'll have to be near water. I can use the abundance of water in the river to my advantage… I can turn into a puddle and blend in perfectly! Then when he gets near me, I'll shoot the bell right off his waist and snatch it before he can… but there's no guarantee he'll find me before time is up… The only way to make sure of that is to place myself right next to the start and shoot him as soon as he counts to 600… He's facing the water, so I'll go for his eyes and the bell at the same time. That way, he won't be able to see where the bell falls, giving me a chance to pick up the bell before he can see where it went… Yeah, that will work!_

Suigetsu reached the river, dove into it, then transformed into water and laid in wait, using Kakashi's counting as a time limit to steady and aim his shots. With the lower half of his body turned into water, Suigetsu aimed his left hand for the bell on Kakashi's right hip, and his right hand for the space between Kakashi's eyes.

And at last, Kakashi's counting reached its end:

" _ **598!**_ … _ **599!**_ … _ **600!**_ "

On cue Suigetsu fired both his Finger Guns.

 _His eyes are going to be soaked the moment he opens… huh?!_

Suigetsu panicked in silence as Kakashi did not open his eyes as soon as he finished counting, but instead pivoted clock-wise ninety degrees, placing the left side of his body toward the river. The shot Suigetsu aimed for the bell flew past Kakashi without hitting anything, while the shot aimed for the eyes instead hit Kakashi's left ear. The moment the shot made contact Kakashi opened his eyes then rushed straight into the woods.

 _Shit! He knows where I am, and now I don't know where he is! I have to head left… Stay in the water as long as possible, but get to somewhere I can see him…_

Suigetsu completely submerged himself and waded left, following Kakashi without betraying the safety of the water. When he finally reached the part of the river that was adjacent to the tall forest, he solidified the top half of his head to take a look. To his shock, he found Kakashi running straight for him.

 _This is my chance!_

Suigetsu pounced out of the water with his left index finger pointed at the bell and the right at Kakashi's eyes, firing them simultaneously. With the distance between them smaller, Kakashi was hit with both water bullets at once, and Suigetsu landed just behind him, their backs to each other.

"Now to find the bell…" Suigetsu spoke under his breath, looking around the area. One split second later, however, Suigetsu found he could no longer move his eyes, or arms or legs, or any part of his body for that matter.

What Suigetsu thought was Kakashi exploded in a burst of lightning right behind him, Suigetsu's spine and all his limbs making direct contact with the electricity.

 _A_ _LIGHTNING CLONE?!_ _You've got to be shitting me…_

Suigetsu fell to the ground due to a loss of balance from being paralyzed in his current position. Then he felt a hand grip the back of his neck and lift him off the ground, itself surrounded by lightning, penetrating Suigetsu's neck and preventing it from liquefying during the entire trip back to the starting point.

"You'll have to be a lot smarter than that to beat me." Kakashi jovially remarked, confirming to Suigetsu the identity of the man who was holding him… and Suigetsu's loss.

[X-X-X]

When they returned to the starting point…

"Why did you turn to the side as soon as you stopped counting?" Suigetsu asked, sitting down by one of the logs, Kakashi standing nearby.

Kakashi looked down at Suigetsu with his arms crossed. "I had an idea about your strategy and wanted to confirm if I was right. Knowing your clan's abilities, I figured you would try to use the river as cover, and to give yourself a decent shot you'd lie in wait where you'd be able to see me and fire the moment your head start was over, just in case I never found you. When I felt water splash on my left ear, I knew I predicted your movements correctly. So I led you to the forest, where you wouldn't be able to see me make a Lightning Clone and send one to the riverbed to engage you and exploit your weakness."

"Yeah… you got me good." Suigetsu chuckled. "I might have to leave Kubikiribocho for last. Until I can counter Lightning Style, there's no way I'm going to win against you."

"Actually… I'm _not_ the hardest opponent you'll have to face to reach your goal. The current wielder of Samehada is even stronger than me."

"Samehada… That's the sword Big Bro Mangetsu was cheated out of taking back… Who has it now?"

"Hidden Cloud Jonin… _Killer B._ "

Suigetsu's jaw dropped. Then he started shivering with dread. "He… he creamed _all four of us!_ And now I have to defeat him _**on my own?!**_ "

"Sorry that you're the last to know. Karin would have seen him with it when he intercepted Jashin, and Sasuke and Jugo went to Turtle Island after leaving the Southern Hideout. And on the off-chance Killer B didn't have Samehada with him then, Jugo would have found out from Gyuki's memories, while Sasuke would have found out from Kurama's and Kabuto's."

"So Kabuto knew too?! He didn't tell me _**that**_ during his account of what happened when I was stuck in the Shinigami!"

"I believe that's because he wanted you to hear it from me, _after_ we had our first fight." Kakashi sat down next to Suigetsu. "The fastest path to the truth isn't always the best one. Telling you that Killer B has Samehada right away would have just discouraged you from seeking me out, even if you learned I had Kubikiribocho. We never would have had this fight."

"And what did this fight accomplish other than hammer in how outclassed I am _even further_ , huh?"

"This fight also showed you just _what_ _you need to improve on_ if you want to reach your goal. You lost today because you were predictable, and you couldn't counter Lightning Style. By continuing to fight me, you'll learn how to overcome both those hurdles. And once you do and you defeat me, not only will you have earned Kubikiribocho… you'll stand a chance at taking on Killer B for Samehada."

"So even when I lose, I'm still making progress?"

"That's up to you. Every battle you participate in is a chance to learn something new about yourself. Your strengths, your weaknesses, your limits, what's changed about them… Whether you win or lose a battle is insignificant compared to the experience gained from it."

"These fights, they're more than just attempts at getting Kubikiribocho… they're also _**training**_ for Samehada! So, uh… does that mean I have to call you Kakashi- _Sensei_ now?"

"You don't have to if it feels too weird." Kakashi winked, and then stood up. "It's about time we headed back."

"Hey! Why don't we go another round?!" Suigetsu protested as he too stood up. "More fights means more experience, right?!"

Kakashi started walking away. "Once a day at most. I fear I won't be able to keep up with my duties as Hokage if we spar more often than that."

"You're a busy man, I get it… So what can I do until the rest of Taka gets back?" Suigetsu asked as he followed.

"Every team, assuming nothing went wrong, should be back by the end of the day. I would suggest finding your way to the Village Gate and waiting for everyone there. You should be able to see it from my office."

"Okay… thanks, Hokage."

At that moment, Suigetsu and Kakashi entered the tall forest once more on their way out. "Say… Do you know where the other Swords of the Mist are? Nuibari, Shibuki, Kabutowari, and Kiba? Big Bro Mangetsu should have summoned them to your fight with him in the war along with Kubikiribocho, right?" asked Suigetsu.

"All four of them were returned to Hidden Mist custody. Whether or not they have any new wielders, however, is something I don't know."

"I guess I'll have to raise the stakes on my duel with Chojuro…" Suigetsu grinned. "Whoever wins gets Hiramekarei and _all Swords of the Mist currently without a wielder…_ I wonder if he'll agree to those conditions."

[X-X-X]

And so Suigetsu and Kakashi walked back to the Hokage's office together where they parted ways, Suigetsu heading for the gate and Kakashi tending to his work. When Suigetsu reached the gate, he noticed a bench nearby and sat down, looking out of the village from his position for any signs of the teams dispatched from this very spot at sunset of last night. He waited several hours until at last, one team returned at approximately noon that day. To his disappointment, no member of Taka was on the team; Sai had returned from the Southern Hideout on an ink bird with Lee and Tsunade on board.

"Suigetsu-kun, you are up!" Lee shouted immediately upon seeing him.

Suigetsu stood up and waved hello as Sai's ink bird landed just outside the gate. Lee and Tsunade disembarked, followed by Sai who dispelled his jutsu. Sai smiled and waved back as the trio approached Suigetsu. "It's good to see you moving again," he said.

"You should know that Great Grandpa Butsuma is dead." Tsunade added, not quite able to look Suigetsu in the eye. "His body was inside the hideout when Sasuke used Planetary Devastation…"

"I already know." Suigetsu replied, surprising the three. "Kabuto told us what was up when we came back."

"I see." Sai nodded, and then looked past Suigetsu at the Hokage's office building. "Please excuse me. I must report to Kakashi-Sensei that our mission was a success, and that Aoda-san's soul returned before Lady Katsuyu was summoned."

"Goodbye, Sai-kun!" yelled Lee while Sai walked away.

"I should head back to the hospital." Tsunade said as she too started walking past Suigetsu. "I need to relieve Kabuto of his duties and tend to my patients."

Suigetsu waved goodbye. "See ya."

"What shall I do?!" Lee asked aloud. "Hmm…"

"Try finding Guy. He was worried about you. You should show him that your youthful spirit is coming back."

"Excellent idea, Suigetsu-kun!"

Lee bowed and quickly ran off screaming:

" _ **Guy-Sensei!**_ "

Soon enough all three ninja left Suigetsu's sight, and he was alone staring past the gate again. The day went on without a trace of Taka or anyone they were supposed to be with, and Suigetsu eventually fell asleep on the bench not long after the sun had set.

[X-X-X]

As night fell on the Hidden Leaf Village, Kakashi grew anxious. Sai reported that he, Lee, and Tsunade returned safely with their mission complete, but no one else had returned. Jugo and Tenten had not yet come back from their meeting with the Hidden Cloud in the Land of Frost, Killer B had not yet returned with Karin, and even Team Asuma had not come back from their mission to capture Hidan. But what worried him the most was what had occurred at Whirlpool Island. Sasuke had managed to defeat Jashin and free all the souls from the Shinigami's dimension – that was proven with Suigetsu's return to consciousness earlier that morning - yet he hadn't returned with Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata. Something must have happened to force them away from coming home immediately. And that thought disturbed him.

"It's too late for my students and Hinata to still be on their mission…" Kakashi thought aloud. "I'll need to form a team to look for them… Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru have their souls back, and Sai came back from his mission, so I could have them search for Sasuke again. Suigetsu could even join them if Sai can find room… Shizune, find Sai, Suigetsu Hozuki, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka at once and bring them here."

"Hold that thought, Lord Hokage…" Shizune objected, pointing to a small well a little distance away from the office building with something emerging from the water. Kakashi followed Shizune's finger and noticed what was emerging with more clarity: a small lime green toad with purple hair.

"Lady Shima's here!"

"Shima, huh…" Kakashi stood up from his desk. "She must have news about Naruto. He's the only ninja alive with a toad summoning contract."

"Before sending a team, we should hear what she has to say."

Kakashi nodded to Shizune's suggestion, opened his office window, and without another word, jumped out of his office, landing squarely near the Toads' well.

 _You always take the stairs going up, but never going down…_ Shizune thought as she closed the window.

"Hi there, Shima!" Kakashi happily exclaimed, startling the old toad as she finished emerging. "Any particular reason you've come to the village at this hour?"

"It's a long story… one I don't have the time to tell! Naruto can tell you after I've reverse summoned him here!"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Naruto? What about the others?"

"Take me to the gate, Hokage!" Shima commanded impatiently. Kakashi, not wanting to waste any more time, did as Shima instructed and picked her up, running her to the village gate.

On his way to the gate, Kakashi dashed past Suigetsu, who woke up to the sound of the Hokage's full speed footsteps. On first instinct and while still half-asleep, Suigetsu asked a question:

"… Is my team back yet?"

He didn't get an answer. Instead, Kakashi let Shima down just outside the gate, and then Shima bit her thumb and pressed both her hands on the ground simultaneously. Two clouds of white smoke appeared a few feet away from her and Kakashi: one small, one massive. When the smoke cleared, Suigetsu could barely make out who was summoned. The small smoke cloud conjured a blond young man wearing an orange jacket, while the large smoke cloud brought forth a gigantic orange toad, roughly the size of Aoda, wearing blue robes.

"Naruto, and… who is that?" Suigetsu wondered as he got up and drifted closer to the big orange toad. After taking a few steps, Suigetsu could tell that there were people sitting on top of the toad. Five of them, though Suigetsu could only recognize two: Hinata Hyuga, who was missing the bottom half of her right leg; and Killer B, who was missing a left arm and, as Kakashi told him this morning, had Samehada at his back.

"Sasuke and Sakura aren't with you?" Kakashi asked Naruto, raising an eyebrow. "And Karin isn't either?"

"I know you must be confused, and I'll tell you everything that happened, but we need to take Hinata, Shikamaru, and Uncle B to Granny Tsunade right away! And we also need to send another team to the Land of Frost as soon as possible!"

"Another team to the Land of Frost? Why?"

"That's where Sasuke, Sakura-chan, and Karin went after we were done at Whirlpool Island! We have to warn them!"

"And just what do we have to _warn_ Sasuke and Karin about?" Suigetsu interjected, now fully awake.

Naruto took a deep breath before responding, hardly believing the situation himself:

" _ **Black Zetsu**_ is still around, and he wants to _**eat**_ _**all of Hagaromo's descendants!**_ "


	72. Chapter 71: A Sneering Darkness Returns

Without wasting any more time, Naruto, Kakashi, and Suigetsu helped the passengers off Gamakichi, the toad disappearing in a puff of smoke as soon as they disembarked. Naruto carried Hinata, who couldn't walk due to her leg injury; Suigetsu volunteered to support Killer B, the lack of a left arm throwing him off balance; Shikamaru was able to walk on his own, but Ino and Choji stayed close to him out of concern anyway. All of them walked to the hospital together while Kakashi ran Shima back to the well, where he thanked her for her help and saw her off on her return to Mount Myoboku.

Once Shima was gone, Kakashi reunited with everyone in the hospital waiting room, save Hinata, Shikamaru, and Killer B, who were with Tsunade in an emergency room. Naruto was in the middle of recounting what had happened to him when Kakashi arrived:

"… and then Hinata and I left Whirlpool Island on Gamakichi's back!"

"So you started without me." Kakashi remarked, his eyes half-shut.

"Suigetsu was desperate to know what happened to Sasuke and Karin!"

 _First Jugo becomes a Sage and a Pseudo-Jinchuriki, then Sasuke copies a bunch of Nagato's techniques, and now Karin's mastered the Adamantine Sealing Chains…_ Suigetsu thought. _At this rate I really will be the weakest link of Taka… No, that doesn't matter. I have my own goals and they have theirs. As long as I'm getting stronger too, there's no problem, and while it might not be as extreme as the others, I_ _AM_ _getting stronger._

Kakashi sat down in a vacant chair near Naruto, Suigetsu, Ino, and Choji. "I guess you can fill me in on what I missed later. What happened next, Naruto?"

"Hmm… I think I should start _there…_ "

[X-X-X]

It took roughly two hours for Gamakichi to finish swimming from Whirlpool Island to the eastern shore of the Land of Fire. From there Gamakichi continued west as per Karin's directions, and by noon that day…

"Naruto!"

The Uzumaki turned his head to look at Hinata, who was sitting beside him. She had her Byakugan active. "See something, Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Yes! It's B-san… He's met with Ino-san, Shikamaru-kun, and Choji-kun. They're all together!"

Naruto looked down to the toad he and Hinata were riding. "You know what to do, Gamakichi!"

"Got it, boss!"

Gamakichi increased his pace, and in due time the two groups got within proximity. B and Team Asuma looked up, surprised by the toad's shadow that loomed over them.

"Hey guys!" Naruto yelled below as he stood up and waved.

Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji gasped in unison. "Naruto?!"

The Uzumaki motioned for them to board Gamakichi. "Come on up! We'll take you back home and have Granny Tsunade fix Shikamaru and Uncle B up!"

The four ninja on the ground looked to each other and nodded, then climbed Gamakichi so they were just behind Naruto and Hinata, Team Asuma helping B climb. It was then they noticed that Hinata was missing half of her right leg.

"Ah! Hinata!" Ino screamed. "Your leg…"

"Did Jashin get you too?" Shikamaru asked, pointing to the chunk of his left shoulder that was missing.

Hinata shook her head. "No… it was Mr. Hidan."

"But Hidan's blood got on Killer B's right arm and it didn't explode…" Choji objected.

"That's because Hidan didn't know how to use Blood Style until after Jashin showed it to him…" Naruto explained, his expression turning grim, "… using Gyuki, the _Eight-Tails_ , as a _punching bag._ "

"How do you know that?" Shikamaru asked. "The Eight-Tails' cause of death. The only ones who were there when it happened were Jashin, Hidan, and -"

"Karin. Karin shared her memories of being Jashin's captive with me through Ninshu, so we could use the same route he did and pick the four of you up. That _also_ means I got a front row seat to Jashin taking all of your souls and him killing Gyuki outright…"

"So what happened to Karin and Hidan anyway?" Ino wondered. "We know that Jashin's still out there because I was with Sasuke in the Shinigami, but the others…"

"Karin went with Sasuke and Sakura-chan to the Land of Frost to defeat Jashin once and for all. As for Hidan… Karin and I captured him, then he blew up his own mouth to keep himself from talking, and Sasuke used the Human Path to read his mind after that. Right now his body is lifeless in the ruins of the Hidden Whirlpool Village, and his disembodied spirit is stuck just a few feet away until the _Ceremonial Killing_ time limit expires."

All of Team Asuma twitched at Naruto's explanation.

"But the point is that Hidan's been incapacitated for good this time, right?" Shikamaru inferred. Naruto and Hinata nodded. "Technically that means our mission's a failure, since our orders were to capture him _alive_ and you effectively _killed him…_ but I can't say I'm not happy with the results."

"Speaking of which… there's something I got to ask you guys." Naruto said, making Shikamaru raise an eyebrow. "I want to write a book about Karin, a sequel to _Tale of a Gutsy Shinobi_. I was thinking about naming the villain of the book after Hidan as a way to remember him. Would you be okay with that?"

"You _do_ realize that Hidan killed Asuma-Sensei, right?!" Ino retorted in disgust. "Why would you possibly want to _name a character_ after him?!"

"That dude with the scythe…" B interjected, "also took Yugito's life…"

Naruto started to sweat, but he quickly regained his composure. "Just hear me out, okay? Hidan also killed Karin's mom. Actually, Karin's mom was the _first_ person Hidan killed in Jashin's name… And Jashin himself both stole Karin's dad's body and was a member of the Uzumaki clan to boot! Karin has _more_ reason to hate Hidan and Jashin than anyone else, and she's okay with it! _Please_ accept it, for Karin's sake…"

All four of them were quiet for a few minutes.

Shikamaru broke the silence. "Fine, do what you want. There are more important things to spend my energy on than boycotting the name of a _fictional character._ "

"I'm not going to stop you either." Ino added with a smile. "If I can accept Sakura winning Sasuke's heart, I can accept a character being named after Hidan."

"If Shikamaru and Ino aren't going to object, then I won't either!" Choji also added. "Asuma-Sensei wouldn't want our team breaking up over something so trivial!"

Naruto started to cry tears of joy hearing Team Asuma's consent. "You're… _the best_ , guys!"

"What about you, B-san?" Hinata asked.

"With the absence of Gyuki, all else seems _paltry…_ Playing the _blame game_ over a _name?_ Fools, all y'all fools…"

"Sounds like he doesn't care either way," said Shikamaru.

"He's been like this ever since we found him." Choji recalled. Then he faced Naruto. "Was he always like this?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. But Gyuki was always with him when I knew him… that's it!"

A spark of inspiration hit Naruto. He quickly turned around and held his left fist in front of B:

"Cheer up and bump fists with me, Uncle B!"

"Thank you, Naruto, but I gotta say no… An encore… without Gyuki, all else seems _paltry…_ "

"So you're just going to _do nothing_ until Gyuki comes back?! You're going to give up?! The Uncle B I know is tougher than that!"

"But-"

"But nothing! Listen, I know how you feel… I felt the same thing when Pervy Sage… Jiraiya-Sensei died. Everything suddenly started to feel meaningless without him around, but Shikamaru and Iruka-Sensei helped me realize that Jiraiya-Sensei wouldn't want me to waste the rest of my life wallowing in despair. He'd want me to keep going and find happiness without him. And I'm sure Gyuki would want the same thing for you! So I'm going to ask again…"

Naruto then smiled at B, keeping his fist out:

"Will you bump fists with me, Uncle B? We can find a way to keep Gyuki's will alive together."

"Naruto… you sure have grown…"

At that moment, B began to smile. Then he nodded and bumped his fist with Naruto's:

"Through our bond, you reminded me, that Gyuki, is not all gone!"

Hinata tilted her head in confusion "Not all gone?"

Naruto's eyes widened with shock. "Oh shit! I almost forgot! Jugo has some of Gyuki's chakra! Kurama told me on our way here!"

"When my new left arm is raring to go, I gotta find that there Jugo! Full speed, to the Hidden Leaf! Whee!"

With B's newest rhyme returned his spirit and he soon started laughing. Everyone else would come to laugh together too, prepared for what would seem to be a relaxing and happy trip home.

Things would change drastically at nightfall…

[X-X-X]

Gamakichi looked up at the night sky as he was about to ask one of his passengers a question:

"How much farther, Hinata? I don't think I can go for much longer…"

"We're still too far away for my Byakugan to see…"

"We might have to spend the night camping out here…" said Shikamaru.

Suddenly, Hinata gasped:

"Something's strange! The trees around us… they're bending inward, as if they're trying to put us _in a cage…_ And… _spikes_ are forming in the stems… almost like…"

"Almost like what, Hinata?" Naruto asked as he looked to her, though he anticipated her answer when he saw Hinata begin to cry:

"Almost like what _killed Big Brother Neji!_ "

In that moment the spikes began shooting at Gamakichi and his passengers all at once.

"Jump as high as you can!" Naruto commanded. Gamakichi nodded and without a word leaped into the air, far above the trees. The encircling wave of wood spears collided with each other in an explosion of dust and wood chips.

Gamakichi started panting. "I'm going to run out of chakra! When that happens…"

"Quick! Everyone, combine your chakra with Gamakichi! You'll be safe at Mount Myoboku!"

"What about _you_ , Naruto?!" Hinata protested, nonetheless merging her chakra with Gamakichi's along with everyone else.

"I'm going to find whoever is responsible for this and _**stop them!**_ I'm not going to let anyone die at that technique's hands again!"

"Then don't die… you'll be abandoning your Ninja Way if you die here!"

Hinata's warning was the last thing Naruto heard before Gamakichi disappeared with everyone else in a puff of white smoke.

 _Don't worry, Hinata. I'll live through this and reunite with you… for both of us and Neji as well._ Naruto thought as another wave of spears shot upward toward him.

"Let's go, Kurama!"

Naruto's entire body turned gold with flames protruding from several places, with his eyes turning red and his pupils becoming slits.

" _ **Wind Style: Rasen Shuriken!**_ "

Naruto promptly formed the human-sized shuriken made of razor wind using his right arm and several chakra arms. He launched it beneath him with a larger chakra arm, detonating the technique in the centre of the wood spears' vicinity. The explosion tore all the wood to pieces, giving Naruto the opportunity to land without interruption.

Just before Naruto landed, a golden facsimile of Kurama burst out from Naruto's body with Naruto inside the mouth, protecting him from the fall. When it was clear Naruto survived, the trees attacked again, this time all around him.

" **We have to block them from everywhere at once!** " Kurama told his partner.

"Duh!" Naruto replied as he made nine Shadow Clones, each one moving into one of Kurama's tails. "Spin as fast as you can, Kurama!"

" **Got it!** "

Kurama grinned, spaced his tails out as evenly as he could, and began spinning counter-clockwise:

" _ **Tailed Beast Nine Twists!**_ "

During the spin, each Shadow Clone began forming his own Rasen Shuriken, while the real Naruto entered Six Paths Sage Mode and formed a different technique:

 _I'll need to borrow some of your power, Shukaku…_

" _ **Magnet Style: Rasen Shuriken!**_ " the original screamed as he formed a beige human-sized shuriken with black markings on it. Then he detonated it over top his head, creating an explosion of spiraling magnetic chakra.

 _Now if I'm right…_

At that moment, all the spears flying towards Naruto and Kurama began slowing down, rising, and revolving around Naruto counter-clockwise, attracted to the magnetic Rasen Shuriken.

"Now!"

On the original's cue, the Shadow Clones all detonated their Rasen Shurikens. The explosions covered every angle that a spear could hit Naruto - given the magnetic Rasen Shuriken guiding their paths - and destroyed every spear that passed into the blast radii.

Unexpectedly, the very moment the explosions ended, Naruto's Shadow Clones disappeared, Kurama's chakra avatar dissipated, and Sage Mode ended. Naruto was reduced down to only Chakra Mode, yet the spears kept coming.

Naruto jumped with panic. "I can't be running out of chakra this fast!"

" **It's your arm… Your chakra still hasn't gotten used to your new arm!** **You haven't had to exert yourself this much since the battle with Sasuke!** "

"Then what do we do?!"

" **We have to find the source of these attacks and blitz our way there!** **Find the** _ **evil intent**_ **behind this; that's what you stayed here to do!** "

"Okay… where are you, thing that's trying to kill me?!"

Naruto scanned as far and wide as he could. Within moments he sensed a source of evil intent, and without thinking further, he ran toward it as fast as he could, dashing at speeds that the trees and spears could not keep up with. In approximately ten seconds, he was right next to whoever was trying to kill him.

But no one was there.

 _They're not here. But the evil didn't move… In that case…_

Naruto suddenly formed a yellow sphere in his left hand as quickly as possible and smashed it into the ground:

"You're _**under ground**_ , aren't you?!"

The Rasengan tore the ground asunder, but to Naruto's surprise the evil he sensed did not disappear. Instead, he sensed it move behind him, and in the same instant he felt something grab his feet and take him out of Chakra Mode. He looked down and found that what grabbed him was a pair of hands.

A pair of _black_ hands.

" _I'm not_ _ **under**_ _ground… I_ _ **am**_ _the ground!_ "

Naruto knew who was speaking to him – who just caught him - the moment he heard their voice, and a chill went down his spine when he did:

"Black Zetsu?!"

Naruto gasped in horror as what grabbed his feet dragged most of his body under the surface, leaving only his head and shoulders exposed. Then the mass of black plant matter emerged from the ground in its complete humanoid shape, his shining gold eyes standing out in the dead of night.

"But I sealed you up with Kaguya! Personally!" said Naruto.

Black Zetsu shook his head as he squatted next to Naruto, leaning in too close for Naruto's comfort. " _Stupid as always…_ _You really don't remember? A Shadow Clone of yours was_ _ **there**_ _when that Swordsman of the Mist_ _ **cut**_ _ **me in half.**_ "

"I only sealed _half_ of you?!"

" _Took you long enough._ _**Three months**_ _late to the punchline… Then again, it took you_ _ **four years**_ _to figure out your feelings for Hinata, so no_ _ **broken records**_ _or anything._ "

"How did you -"

Naruto tried to respond, but Black Zetsu put a finger over his mouth:

" _I told you already; I_ _ **am**_ _the ground._ _I must say, the Nine-Tails' evil intent detection is such a nuisance. The_ _ **only thing**_ _that can sense me when I'm fused with the planet… That's why I had to leave the moment you accepted Lee's challenge and forced my_ _ **trail**_ _to grow cold…_ "

"Shimeri Suna Estate… You were _**there!**_ You were _**tailing Sasuke**_ ever since he left the Hidden Leaf, weren't you?!"

Black Zetsu silently gave a wide grin.

"Why?!" Naruto asked.

" _I had a plan._ _I was simply going to wait it out… wait for_ _ **Orochimaru's game**_ _to get hard enough for Sasuke to be forced to summon Sakura, and then I'd kill her right before his eyes. Stir up that_ _ **Curse of Hatred.**_ _In no time he'd be blaming_ _you_ _for Sakura's death, since you had the knowledge_ _and_ _abilities to prevent it… yet you wouldn't have. Sever the bond you worked_ _so hard_ _to restore… Then Asura and Indra would reincarnate after you both die… Into_ _ **the same baby**_ _, if I had my way._ "

"The same baby?" Naruto's eyes widened. "You mean _Karin…_ "

" _Yes… Karin's a close second to Sakura for him, you know…_ _Without Sakura in his life and the despair he'd face with her death, Sasuke wouldn't_ _ **hesitate**_ _to throw himself in Karin's arms. And while they were falling in love, I'd kill you, and as soon as Karin was pregnant I'd kill Sasuke. Then Asura and Indra would have no choice but to reincarnate into_ _ **Sasuke and Karin's child,**_ _effectively a reincarnation of Hagaromo himself. One near-death experience later and_ _ **BAM**_ _, Rinnegan!_ "

Naruto smirked. "Too bad you missed your chance."

" _Too bad for you_ _ **I don't care.**_ _Certainly you must be wondering why I went after_ _ **you**_ _tonight, when my old plan had Sakura die_ _ **before you**_ _ **.**_ "

"You _don't care?!_ But Kaguya meant everything to you… You'd stop at nothing to resurrect her and be at her side!"

" _You know something, Naruto?_ _ **You were right.**_ " Black Zetsu winked. " _I was a mamma's boy once, couldn't stand being away from her… but tonight I finally found a new purpose in life! One that will_ _ **free me**_ _from Mother Kaguya's hold for good!_ "

Naruto's eyes twitched. "A new purpose? That still involves killing me?!"

" _Just an hour or so ago, a voice spoke to me!_ _It asked me who was responsible for bestowing some_ _Light of Life_ _nonsense to all life on the planet. I believed it meant chakra, so I told it that_ _ **Hagaromo Otsuktsuki**_ _was at fault, and in response the voice tasked me with_ _ **eradicating his entire lineage**_ _by March 1st or the whole planet will be destroyed!_ "

"So is that what this is all about?! You're going to kill Sasuke and what remains of my clan so you can _save the world_ , because of something some stupid _voice in your head_ told you?! Do you even know what that voice is?!"

" _Of course I know what that voice is!_ _That voice belongs to the_ _ **will of the planet itself!**_ _I was_ _merged with the planet_ _when it spoke to me, so it could be nothing else! The world has_ _chosen me_ _as its champion to punish Hagaromo for giving life chakra, something it was never meant to have! But my purpose extends_ _ **beyond**_ _what the world wishes of me. I will atone for Hagaromo's sins… and I will also atone for Mother Kaguya's! Hagaromo may have given the world chakra, but it was Mother Kaguya who took it from the Shinju in the first place! To correct her_ _ **mistake**_ _, the only thing that can be done is_ _ **rid this entire planet of chakra!**_ "

"How are you going to do _**that**_ _ **,**_ huh?! Chakra is a part of every living thing!"

Black Zetsu snickered. " _It's a very simple two-step process._ _Step 1: eat, or absorb chakra from, all life forms on this planet, making me the_ _ **only thing alive with chakra**_ _ **.**_ _Step 2:_ _ **Get off this blasted planet**_ _and allow the world to finally be restored to its rightful state of being! I only agreed to kill Hagaromo's descendants to give myself_ _ **enough time to eat the entire world's population!**_ "

Naruto snickered back. "Why'd you bother telling me all this? Now someone knows what you're up to. The only one who can find you when you're merged with the planet, even."

" _Because the one threat to my plans is about to die… and I want to_ _ **savour**_ _this wondrous meal_."

Black Zetsu's body changed shape from humanoid to one gigantic mouth over Naruto's head, lined with countless sharp teeth, blocking out all light from reaching Naruto's eyes.

" _ **Itadakimasu!**_ "

With that scream Black Zetsu attempted to chomp down on Naruto's head. But when his teeth collided, they munched on nothing.

Nothing but a puff of white smoke.

[X-X-X]

Naruto looked around and found himself surrounded by the familiar giant mushrooms, oil, and toad statues. "I didn't expect the Pure World to look so much like Mount Myoboku…" he said aloud to himself.

At that moment, he felt a smack on his lower left leg. On instinct, Naruto looked down:

"Yowch! I had no idea-"

"This _**is**_ Mount Myoboku, Naruto-chan!" a small dark green toad with gray balding hair said whilst looking up. "I reverse summoned ya! It was harder than usual this time, too. Were you _buried underground_ or something?"

"Yeah, actually…"

The elderly toad raised his eyebrows in surprise that his jest was indeed the truth.

"Why did you reverse summon me anyway, Fukasaku?" Naruto asked. "Oh! Did Hinata get worried about me and ask you to bring me to safety?!"

"Nope! In fact, she was quite adamant in trusting you to handle yourself! That lady has a lot of faith in you. The reason I reverse summoned ya is because our Elder had another _prophecy_ about ya. _Just now_ , in fact!"

"Again?" Naruto crossed his arms and dipped his head. "I'm _sick_ of prophecies, being completely honest. Why can't my future be completely unknown for a change? Give me some freedom to forge a future of _my own_ design? Oh, whatever, let's hear it. It's the least I can do to pay Geezer Toad back for _saving my life_ with it…"

And so Naruto reluctantly followed Fukasaku to the Great Toad Elder for the prophecy. When he got there, he found that Gamakichi was nearby, and everyone who was with him when Naruto last saw him was still there, including Hinata.

Naruto hysterically waved hello. "I'm sorry, Hinata! I'd be dead if it weren't for these toads here! I couldn't keep my promise on my own!"

Hinata happily waved back. "It's okay! Just hear Lord Gamamaru out. We can talk later!"

Naruto nodded and put his hand down, stepping forward to hear Gamamaru's prophecy. The ancient toad looked down and squinted hard:

"Ah… so it really is you, Naruto. I believe Fukasaku's told you already?"

"Yes I did, Elder… Just give him the prophecy."

"Yes, yes…" Gamamaru closed his eyes in recollection. "There is… a tree. A golden flame in the shape of a man stands at the base… Then the same golden light bursts out from the top of the tree! Then there's a clock. It turns, and turns, and then… the golden light at the top disappears, but the tree and the man remain!"

Naruto stroked his chin. "I get it… The man-shaped golden flame… That's me in Chakra Mode. But a tree and a light at the top? I don't understand that part…"

Ino pouted in aggravation. "Are his prophecies _always_ this vague?!"

"Pretty much." Naruto, Gamakichi, and Fukasaku all said in unison, deadpan.

"How do your prophecies even _work_ anyway, Geezer Toad?" Naruto asked. "And why are you the only one that gets 'em?!"

"I am not completely sure… All I know is that I get bombarded by some strange chakra whenever they happen… Why it happens to me and no one else, I haven't the faintest idea…"

"So, umm…" Hinata interjected, "why were you just about to die, Naruto?"

"I found what was controlling the trees to attack us… It was Black Zetsu! He sent only _half_ of himself to the last battle of the war! The _other_ half hid himself until Sasuke left on his journey three weeks ago! He was _stalking_ Sasuke and his team until I accepted Lee's swim-off and threatened exposing him with Chakra Mode! Then just an hour ago, Black Zetsu heard a voice in his head telling him to kill all of Hagaromo's descendants or the world will be destroyed by March 1st! Black Zetsu agreed to do it, but only so he'd give himself enough time kill everyone on the planet! He said he was going to atone for Kaguya's mistake and take chakra away from the world…"

Choji gulped. "Well, what should we do? Killing Naruto and Sasuke to save everyone else doesn't seem right…"

"The first thing we should do is warn Sasuke and Karin about Black Zetsu." Shikamaru proposed. "I'm not quite ready to believe what Black Zetsu was saying about the end of the world, but it's a fact that he wants them dead."

"Lady Tsunade's in danger too." Ino pointed out. "Then there's Shikamaru's, Hinata's, and Killer B's conditions to worry about…"

"How about we use that 'reverse summoning' to transport all of us to the Hidden Leaf?" Hinata suggested. "That way, we can see Lady Fifth about our missing limbs, warn her about Mr. Black Zetsu, and ask Kakashi-Sensei to send a team to warn Sasuke-kun and Karin-san all at once."

Naruto gave Hinata a wide smile. "Good thinking, Hinata!"

Hinata silently smiled back.

"You ready to travel through the well to the Hidden Leaf, Fukasaku?" Naruto asked.

"I told you already; my last reverse summon was tougher than usual! I don't have enough chakra in me to do it again, especially not if I'm bringing Gamakichi along with ya!"

"You rest and let _**ME**_ handle that, dear!"

Naruto looked to his left and everyone followed his gaze to the lime green toad with purple hair that shouted at them a little ways away, already next to the well that led to the Hidden Leaf Village.

Fukasaku gave her a smile, his eyes half-shut. "Much appreciated, Shima! But make it quick, would you? It's no fun going to bed all alone!"

"And make sure to summon us outside the village, too!" Gamakichi added. "I wouldn't want to break any buildings on my way in!"

"Go outside and do it quickly? Got it!"

Without any more words, Shima made an 'okay' gesture with her left hand and hopped into the well.

[X-X-X]

"… and then we poofed back here." said Naruto, concluding his tale.

Kakashi's eyes twitched as he struggled to grasp the gravity of his students' situation. "I see…"

"Now you get why we have to send another team to the Land of Frost!" Naruto added.

"No. That's the one thing we _can't_ do."

Suigetsu earned suspicious glances from everyone else the moment he made his comment.

Naruto scowled. "And why not?! You want to just sit here and do nothing as Black Zetsu plots to eat a half of your own team?! Some friend you are!"

Suigetsu turned his attention to Kakashi. "Hey, Hokage! Sasuke may not have said much about his old team, but am I wrong in assuming that Naruto was the team _idiot?_ "

"I wouldn't put it that way, but Naruto _did_ have a tendency to rush into things without thinking." Kakashi smiled under his mask, "Still does, from the looks of it."

Naruto doubled back in confusion. "You _agree_ with him, Kakashi-Sensei?!"

"To be blunt, yes. If we send a team to the Land of Frost, then Black Zetsu could very well _follow them_ to Sasuke and Karin's position. He lost track of them when you were at Shimeri Suna Estate, and instead of keeping their location hidden, we'd be _giving them away_ _._ "

"Warning Sasuke and Karin about him could be what Black Zetsu is _predicting_ we'd do." Suigetsu added.

"But if _**I**_ go, then there's no problem!" Naruto objected. "I'll be able to sense if Black Zetsu is snooping around!"

Suigetsu shook his head. "Then you'd be leaving the village unguarded. Granny is another of Black Zetsu's targets. If you leave, then you're inviting Black Zetsu to enter the village and _kill her without being detected._ "

"Then I can just send a Shadow Clone! I can go to Sasuke and Karin and stay in the village at the same time!"

"And just how long is this Shadow Clone going to last in Chakra Mode before it dispels?" Kakashi asked. "From your account, your chakra control seems to have worsened since your battle with Sasuke. The Land of Wind mission was one thing, where your Shadow Clones were only active for a few hours and were dispelled as soon as the fighting was done, but you and the Shadow Clones will have to be active, _perpetually in Chakra Mode_ _,_ in order to not give Black Zetsu any openings. And the trip to the Land of Frost takes over a day going there and back even at your fastest. No matter what, your Shadow Clones are going to run out of chakra and be dispelled eventually, and _you_ will have to fall asleep eventually. When either of those things happen, Black Zetsu will be free to secure his kill."

Naruto sighed in resignation. "I guess so… But I can't just sit here and do nothing!"

After a few minutes of silent contemplating, someone finally came up with another solution.

"Actually, there might be something we can do…"

The voice belonged to Suigetsu.

"Naruto, you should protect Granny. Stay in Chakra Mode as long as you can, and when you're about to run out, Granny or another medic can transfer their chakra to you. That way, you can stay in Chakra Mode indefinitely… or at least long enough for my team and the others to come back. Then we can send everyone Black Zetsu's targeting to Mount Myoboku or some other place where he can't reach in time for March 1st, where we can discuss everything that's going on and come up with something more permanent. As for my team, Sakura, and Tenten? … We'll just have to trust them to come back here as quickly as possible on their own."

"That… might just work." Kakashi remarked. "You thought really hard about this, didn't you, Suigetsu?"

"Yeah… I have to work on being less predictable, after all."


	73. Chapter 72: Taka Reunited

After parting ways with Nodan and the Hidden Cloud team - who left first - Sasuke, Karin, Jugo, Sakura and Tenten went to the shack Jugo and Tenten entered when they first arrived in the Land of Frost to spend the night and get some much needed sleep. At the crack of dawn the following morning, Sasuke summoned Odaka and had everyone except Jugo climb aboard, while Jugo flew alongside Odaka on his own in Sage Mode. At Odaka's pace the group could not quite make it to the Hidden Leaf Village in one day, so they landed in a town in the northeastern Land of Fire for the night, then took off once more the next sunrise, finally making it back to the Hidden Leaf a little before noon.

Odaka and Jugo landed just outside the gate, and as soon as everyone disembarked, Karin made a mad dash for the person waiting for them.

"About time you came back, you g-!"

Suigetsu's wave hello with both arms from just inside the gate was suddenly interrupted by a pair of arms wrapping themselves tightly around his upper torso, then a pair of breasts nestling against his own chest, and finally the side of a head resting against his left shoulder. Karin's face then went red:

"Suigetsu!"

"Karin?! You've never acted like this with _**me**_ before! And in public too?! Are you okay?" Suigetsu replied, moving his arms down to return her embrace.

Karin took her head off Suigetsu's shoulder to look him in the eyes. "Better than okay! I got to meet Dad and Great Great Grandma, I learned how to use my chains, and I got to really know Naruto and Uncle Nagato too! I even took Hidan down and avenged Mom with Naruto's help!"

"I already know…" Suigetsu looked away with a disgusted pout, "Naruto kind of spoiled the surprise."

Karin let go of Suigetsu to slap him with her right hand - making his head burst into water – while maintaining her jovial attitude. "Lighten up, would you?! I don't need to tell you personally to feel good about it!"

When Suigetsu's head reformed, he was smirking:

"And here I thought you were going _soft_ on me, with how goody goody you were acting."

Suigetsu then hugged Karin even tighter.

Karin smiled. "Never in a million years! I might show my sweet side more often now, but I wouldn't _dream_ of taking it _easy_ on you!"

"Alright, that's enough." Sasuke interjected, having cancelled Odaka's summon and reached Karin and Suigetsu with Sakura, Tenten, and Jugo behind him. "We have to see Kakashi right away."

Suigetsu turned his head to look at Sasuke while still holding Karin. "What a coincidence! The Hokage wants to see you guys too! You and Karin most of all."

Sakura cracked her knuckles. "Then let's all go to Kakashi-Sensei's office! Cha!"

"Count me out." Tenten objected. "I need to find Lee and Guy-Sensei and tell them about Jugo's and my plans!"

"Okay. I'll leave that to you." Said Jugo. Then he gave Tenten a quick hug, making Suigetsu's eyes widen with shock and his jaw drop.

"See you soon, Tenten."

"Bye!"

Tenten ran for where her teammates usually trained the moment Jugo released her from his hug. After seeing her off, Taka and Sakura began walking over to the Hokage's office.

[X-X-X]

During Taka's and Sakura's trek to Kakashi's office, Suigetsu started talking:

"Jugo. And Tenten. I did not expect _that_ happening. So what… _plans_ was she talking about, Jugo?" The Hozuki then made a devilish grin. "Are you planning to get _married_ in two years at Shimeri Suna Estate?"

Jugo shook his head. "I wasn't even thinking about that… Once all this is over, we're planning on travelling the world together. We want to find and visit all the Senjutsu Schools in the world."

"All of them? How many are there?" Sakura asked. "There's Shikotsu Forest, Mount Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave… and what else?"

"The three you mentioned and at least _five more._ One for every species of animal capable of human speech. All animals of that sort are born at a Senjutsu School, or at least that's what the White Snake Elder told me."

"One for every animal capable of human speech…" Sasuke said. "Not counting snake, slug, and toad, there's _cat_ for Denka and Hina, _dog_ for Pakkun, _turtle_ for Guy's summon, and _monkey_ for the Third Hokage's summon…"

"But that makes four more, not five." Karin objected. "Where'd you get an eighth species of animal capable of human speech from, Jugo?"

"It was while I was thinking about how to pass the Trial of Water the first time. I wondered if it was possible to breathe underwater, and if I had some way of replicating it. Then I asked Gyuki and it donned on me: _Kisame Hoshigaki_ breathed underwater during his battle with Killer B after fusing with Samehada. By combining Sage Chakra and Water Style from the Bashosen, I was able to do the same thing. That confirmed for me that -"

"No way…" Suigetsu interrupted. "Samehada was created not just to be a _sword_ , but to be an outlet for _**Shark Sage Mode?!**_ "

Jugo nodded. "That's the theory I came up with. So the Shark Senjutsu School may very well be _where Samehada was created._ "

At that moment, Suigetsu grabbed Jugo's arm and began shaking it in desperation:

"When you get around to going there, please take me with you! I want to go there too! Once I've defeated Killer B and earned Samehada for myself, its birthplace is probably the best spot to _learn how to use it_ , after all!"

Jugo nodded with a smile. "I'd like that."

"That's enough talk about the future." Sasuke interjected. "Right now, we need to focus on making sure we _have_ a future at all." Suigetsu raised an eyebrow and looked at him funny. "I'll explain what that means when we see Kakashi."

[X-X-X]

Sakura forcefully opened the door to the Hokage's office open with Taka right behind her. "Kakashi-Sensei! What do you need to tell us?!"

Kakashi shook his head. "Not here and not now. Go to the hospital and have Naruto bring Taka, along with Tsunade, to Mount Myoboku. Only then will we discuss anything."

"If what you mean to tell us concerns any member of Taka other than me, Kabuto should come too." said Sasuke. "He has all their DNA."

"Then we'll send Kabuto as well." Kakashi replied.

"But what about Hinata, Shikamaru, and Killer B?!" Sakura protested. "Without Lady Tsunade or Kabuto-"

"First of all, Shikamaru and B have already been treated. As for Hinata…"

" _You_ can preside over the operation."

The one to finish Kakashi's sentence was Sasuke, who placed his hand on Sakura's right shoulder from behind, smiling:

"Next to Tsunade and Kabuto, you're the best medical ninja in the world. You can do this. I believe in you."

"Sasuke…"

Sakura blushed momentarily, then grinned and cracked her knuckles. "You're right. You can leave Hinata in my care. Cha!"

"Now get going." Kakashi commanded.

"Hold on!" Karin objected. "Sasuke and I… we intercepted messenger birds in order to save everyone from Jashin. While Sakura was with us!"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure there's more to the story that you're not telling me. Right now, there are more pressing matters at hand, and until those are resolved, I cannot in good conscience judge your actions in an effective manner. So for now, let's just hold off on anything related to your pardons until, say… _March 2nd_ , alright?" As he concluded, Kakashi closed his eyes and smiled under his mask.

 _March 2nd…_ _That's one day after Shuryo Jikan arrives… Is Shuryo Jikan related to what happened to Naruto on his way here?_ Sasuke thought.

"… Thank you, Kakashi." The Uchiha said, taking his hand off Sakura and bowing his head. "We'll make sure not to die until that day comes. Let's go, Taka, Sakura…"

With that, Sasuke left the Hokage's office with Sakura and the rest of his team shortly behind him.

[X-X-X]

Naruto was just outside the emergency room Hinata and Tsunade were in, struggling to remain in Chakra Mode. "How much longer are they going to be?! I took a Soldier Pill, so I'm not going to fall asleep for another day and a half, but Chakra Mode still takes its toll… Oh no! It's about to run out! Quick, Ino!"

"Yeah… I got it…"

Ino herself was gasping for breath as she placed her hands on Naruto's back for the latest in a number of times she lost count of. "Get back here already, _Billboard Brow…_ "

"What did you just call me, _Pig?_ "

Ino looked over her shoulder behind herself to face the voice who responded to her and found Sakura smirking, with Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Jugo behind her. Ino smirked back.

Naruto followed Ino's eyes and waved hello. "Sakura-chan! Sasuke! Jugo! Oh… where's Karin? Don't tell me… she didn't make it back, did she? …"

"She just went to find Kabuto, idiot." Sasuke replied. "You're supposed to bring us all to Mount Myoboku. Well Kabuto's coming with us."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Then who's the medic filling in for Granny Tsunade and fixing Hinata's leg?"

Sakura smugly pointed at herself. "You're looking at her! Hinata will walk again, just you wait and see! Cha!"

"Oh… yeah!"

Naruto suddenly made a wide grin:

 _Sakura-chan and Hinata alone together in an operating room… Hmm…_

"Don't you _**dare**_ leave a Shadow Clone behind to peep on us!"

Naruto began to sweat as he frantically shook his head in response to Sakura's warning. "I… I wasn't thinking about that! Honest!"

"Then why did Kabuto and I _both_ detect a lie coming from you just now?"

Naruto's sweating intensified the moment he recognized who the voice belonged to. His eyes darted past Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Jugo to find two more familiar faces approaching, and indeed one of them was who he had in mind:

"Uh, Karin! … My mind just sometimes goes to dirty places! I would never actually _condone_ something so indecent… really!"

Sasuke sighed. "This coming from the one who _invented_ the Harem Jutsu."

"That's meant for distractions and nothing else!"

Karin raised an eyebrow. " _Harem_ Jutsu, Sasuke?"

"Imagine me, Jugo, Suigetsu, and Kabuto before injecting himself with Orochimaru's remains all naked and cuddling around you. Add Sasori when he was fully human, Deidara with shorter hair and no mouths on his hands, and a few others I couldn't recognize into the mix, and that's more or less what happened when Naruto used it on Kaguya."

"Wow…" Karin began drooling as the fantasy played out in her head. " _Distraction_ is right…"

"Yeah…"

Ino promptly passed out as soon as she could voice her agreement with Karin, partially from exhaustion and partially from arousal.

"Hold on… Naruto used _our likeness_ in a Harem Jutsu? On _Kaguya?_ And it _**WORKED?!**_ " Suigetsu asked in bewilderment. "You didn't mention _**that**_ in _Rise and Fall of the Moon Eye Plan!_ "

Sasuke shrugged. "It was irrelevant to the point of the story, so I left it out."

At that moment, Tsunade opened the emergency room door and interjected:

"Why's it so _loud_ out here? I need the utmost concentration for this sur-"

Her eyes widened in shock as she witnessed the sight before her. "It's that time then. I guess you're filling in, Kabuto?"

"No, the one doing that is…"

Kabuto turned to look at Sakura, but found that the aforementioned kunoichi's eyes had gone blank and her nose was bleeding. His voice weakened the moment he laid eyes on her:

"… Sakura."

"What happened out here? Sakura's having a nose bleed, Karin is drooling, and Ino's passed out." Tsunade asked, her expression darkening.

"Sasuke's _terrific_ storytelling, that's what." Naruto remarked. "Just a _description_ of the Reverse Harem Jutsu in his voice is enough to distract them all! Maybe he should write a sequel to _Make-Out Paradise._ "

"It's not _my_ fault their imaginations ran wild." Sasuke said. Then he went over to Sakura and sharply poked her Hundred Strengths Seal, snapping her attention back to reality. "Sakura, it's time to help Hinata recover."

"Oh, yes, of course… I'll get to it right after I wash my hands and face."

Sakura blinked a few times as she wiped the blood off her face and headed in. Tsunade left the emergency room right after Sakura entered it.

Suigetsu shook Karin's shoulders, alerting her to her surroundings once more. "Alright, Karin… time to go!"

"Got it…"

And so they left the hospital for the village gate. Naruto took the lead, then Sasuke and Jugo behind him, then Kabuto and Tsunade behind them, with Suigetsu and Karin straddling, having woken Ino up and said goodbye to her as well. When they reached the gate…

"Stand back guys!"

Taka, Kabuto, and Tsunade gave Naruto fair distance as instructed, giving him enough room to summon Gamakichi just outside the village. "Climb on top of him and combine your chakra with him, then when I cancel the summon you'll all be whisked away to Mount Myoboku!" Naruto said.

 _Mount Myoboku… one of the destinations on my trip… I'll have to go there the long way with Tenten eventually…_ Jugo thought.

Sasuke mounted Gamakichi first. "We know how this works, idiot. Just do it, already." he said. Everyone else followed after him.

"You all ready?!" Naruto asked loudly.

All of Gamakichi's passengers nodded.

"Then away you go!"

On Naruto's cue Gamakichi, Taka, Kabuto, and Tsunade disappeared in a puff of white smoke. Seconds later, Naruto himself disappeared in a puff of smoke, at last letting himself turn off Chakra Mode and relax.

[X-X-X]

Jugo stared in wonder at the exotic plant life and flowing oil. "So this is Mount Myoboku… This place looks nothing like Ryuchi Cave… ah!"

"Yes… the natural energy here is quite potent." Kabuto remarked right before he severed his chakra connection with Gamakichi and sat completely still, as did Jugo. Within seconds, both entered their own Sage Modes.

"Seems the one thing we have in common with the Snake School is an abundance of natural energy!" Gamakichi said as everyone disembarked at once.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Behind us." Karin, Jugo, and Kabuto said in unison. Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Tsunade looked behind Gamakichi to find Naruto as sensed, with a small dark green toad standing beside him.

"It's about time we told each other what's been going on, eh?" said Fukasaku. "For you to bring two _Snakes_ into the domain of the _Toads…_ It's a testament to how dire the situation is, if nothing else."

"Yes, it's time." Sasuke and Naruto spoke simultaneously, motioning for the other humans to sit in a circle with each other at opposite ends. Once everyone was in position, they shared their experiences…

[X-X-X]

Suigetsu was shivering. "So the world really _**is**_ ending on March 1st?!"

Karin put an arm around Suigetsu from beside him and rested her head on his shoulder. "That's what we're trying to stop."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses. "It seems like what contacted Black Zetsu two nights ago was Shuryo Jikan, the same figure that contacted Jashin 150 years ago, as soon as Jashin died and was rendered unable to carry out his end of the deal. But it also seems like it was the first time Black Zetsu ever heard it."

"Then where did Black Zetsu get his Curse Energy?" Jugo asked.

"We might have to read his memories in order to find out." Sasuke bit his lip. "Though 1000 years' worth of memories will take a very long time to sift through…"

"Black Zetsu believed that this Shuryo Jikan or whatever was the will of the planet…" Naruto recalled. "Does that mean the only way for the world not to be destroyed is for us to _**die?!**_ "

Tsunade's fists were trembling. _Dammit._ _I knew something bad was going to happen the moment I won my bet about Great Grandpa…_ she thought.

Sasuke shook his head. "We can't jump to that conclusion just yet. At the very least, we know for a fact that Shuryo Jikan can change its mind on the terms needed to avert the destruction of the world. That and it doesn't know that the Uzumaki clan is a subset of Hagaromo's; it would have pointed that fact out to Black Zetsu, and it doesn't seem like that happened."

"It doesn't know?!" Naruto gasped. "But there's no way the planet itself wouldn't know Hagaromo's lineage!"

"Then the obvious answer is that Shuryo Jikan isn't the will of the planet!" Karin inferred. "Black Zetsu only _thought_ it was because he was fused with the planet when it happened. But it's entirely possible that Shuryo Jikan could sense Black Zetsu _even while he was fused with the planet_ and _speak to him through his Curse Energy!_ "

"But the only one that can sense Black Zetsu in that state is me in Chakra Mode!"

"Before Jashin was born, Kekkei Tota didn't exist. And over 1000 years ago no life on this planet had any chakra - and we were also convinced we were alone in the universe - until Kaguya came along." Sasuke nonchalantly rebutted. "This could just be another case of some power _we have yet to discover_ breaking our understanding of the world yet again. Changes occur because of things we don't understand all the time. Just ask Gamamaru."

"You mean the latest prophecy, Sasuke-chan." Fukasaku inferred, standing beside Naruto in the circle.

"That's _exactly_ what I mean. When I heard about the prophecy I got curious about a particular feature of it."

"What feature, Sasuke?" Kabuto asked, raising an eyebrow. "The tree, the clock, the light at the top?"

"The _timing_.Why would Gamamaru have a prophecy about Naruto right before he was about to die?"

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "Wasn't that just a coincidence, Sasuke?"

"No, I don't think so. You said that whenever Gamamaru receives a prophecy, he gets bombarded by a strange chakra. Well, that chakra has to _come from somewhere_ _,_ right?"

"You think someone, or something, _gave_ the Great Toad Elder that prophecy two nights ago?" Jugo deduced, taking everyone else aback, flabbergasted. "Something that witnessed Naruto about to die and _deliberately_ sent the Great Toad Elder a vision to save him?"

"Precisely."

Everyone went quiet at Sasuke's word of confirmation.

Fukasaku eventually broke the silence. "I don't know what to say… For the longest time it never occurred to me that something out there must be _sending_ Elder his visions."

"… Is there a way to test it?" Naruto desolately asked.

Sasuke stood up. "Of course there is. All we need to do is sense the chakra that bombards Gamamaru when he's receiving a vision, and trace it back to its source. Between Naruto, Karin, Jugo, and Kabuto, the job shouldn't be hard at all."

"That sounds way too easy." Tsunade objected. "Lord Fukasaku here is a Sage himself. Wouldn't he have already sensed the chakra coming to Lord Gamamaru several times by now?"

Fukasaku shook his head. "I have never sensed it anywhere else, Tsunade-chan. Then again, I rarely ever venture outside of little ol' Mount Myoboku. Only when I am absolutely needed elsewhere do I ever leave! Same with my darling Shima! I cannot say the same thing about these young'uns though! They've been all over! They might have sensed the same chakra _at its source_ before!"

"Then we just need to ask Gamamaru to read one of our futures while Jugo, Kabuto, and Naruto are in Sage Mode and Karin's focusing on him?" Suigetsu stroked his chin. "Then let _**my**_ future be the one we read!"

"Are you sure about this?" Naruto asked. "What if you hear something you don't like? Like if you lose to Chojuro or something?"

"Every battle, whether you win or lose, can help you learn more about yourself. No matter what that old toad says about my future, I'll learn something from it and _make it work to my advantage!_ No prophecy in the _**universe**_ is going to stop me from making my dream a reality!"

Naruto smirked. "You know, I might have misjudged you, Suigetsu! I can definitely respect that attitude! Go for it!"

Naruto then stood up and stretched out his right arm, making a fist. Suigetsu got up in turn and bumped his own fist on Naruto's, grinning.

Karin smiled witnessing Naruto and Suigetsu bump fists. _I knew you two would get along eventually._

"Alrighty! Let's go see Elder!" Fukasaku shouted as he started walking to Gamamaru's position with the others following him.

[X-X-X]

Gamamaru squinted at the group of seven humans and one toad that approached him. "Who… are you people?"

Naruto's eye twitched. "It's been two days since you last saw me and you're forgetting already? Whatever, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! The _young man with powerful eyes_ over there is Sasuke Uchiha, my teammate and best friend! The red-head is Karin Uzumaki, my cousin! The big guy is Jugo, who became a sage at Ryuchi Cave! As did Kabuto Yakushi, the scaly guy! The old lady is Granny Tsunade; she was teammates with Pervy Sage! And last but not least, the boy with all sharp teeth is Suigetsu Hozuki, and he was wondering if you could read his fortune!"

"Oh… then step forward, Suigetsu Hozuki."

Suigetsu did as Gamamaru instructed, walking slowly enough to give Naruto time to gather enough natural energy to enter Sage Mode. At the same time, Karin, Jugo, and Kabuto focused on Gamamaru intently while also stepping back to give Suigetsu some space. Sasuke and Tsunade were at the back of the crowd with Fukasaku, watching the event unfold. Suigetsu looked back once to see that Naruto's eyes had turned yellow with toad-like pupils and gained red markings around his eyes, signifying his transformation. He looked back forward and nodded, determined to hear whatever Gamamaru was going to say. And at last Gamamaru had his vision:

"This is very intriguing… I see… an octopus _**again?!**_ You meet an octopus, and then… you become a shark? …"

"A shark, huh…"

Suigetsu had an epiphany. "Then I'll have Samehada and _fuse with it!_ It'll be after Gyuki comes back, but I'm going to do it! _**HOLY SHIT, GUYS!**_ "

Sasuke focused on the four sensors. "Never mind the prophecy itself. Naruto, Karin, Jugo, Kabuto… did you recognize the chakra that hit Gamamaru when he received the prophecy?"

"…yes." they all said simultaneously, eyes wide with bewilderment.

"Who or what does it belong to?" Tsunade asked.

All four sensors proceeded to give the same answer:

"… _ **Turtle Island.**_ "


	74. Chapter 73: Planetary Exorcism

Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Tsunade were perplexed by the name the sensors gave. "Turtle Island?" they asked in unison.

Karin nodded. "The chakra is much smaller than what I sensed when we passed by it on our way to the Hidden Cloud, but the signature is unmistakable! _Turtle Island_ is the source of the prophecies!"

"I guess we'll have to see it again…" said Sasuke. "Let's go. Our business with Gamamaru is done."

"Wait… I demand answers!" Gamamaru objected. "I've been receiving prophecies ever since the _Sage of the Six Paths_ was still around! Have I been receiving them from Turtle Island since all the way back then?!"

Sasuke looked up to the elderly toad. "We intend to find that out as soon as we've stopped Black Zetsu."

"Shouldn't we wait until after we've stopped Shuryo Jikan?" Jugo asked. "I mean, learning how Great Toad Elder's prophecies work and returning to Turtle Island would be a worthwhile endeavour, but is it really all that relevant to the issue at hand, Sasuke?"

"There's no denying it is. The prophecy about Suigetsu is proof. If Suigetsu really is to defeat B and fuse with Samehada _after Gyuki is revived_ , then Suigetsu and B must live until the day Gyuki comes back. Which means…"

"… _Shuryo Jikan is going to be stopped_ , according to the prophecy Turtle Island sent Geezer Toad." Naruto concluded, eyes widening. "But that means we're going to die after all!"

"No… Not necessarily."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Sasuke's reply.

"Just hear me out. Assuming Turtle Island did, in fact, deliberately save your life by sending Gamamaru that prophecy two days ago, then it doesn't want you dead. Yet whether going by Jashin's conditions to avert Shuryo Jikan or Black Zetsu's, your death is a requirement. There is no way Turtle Island would ensure your survival, and then indirectly claim that Shuryo Jikan will be stopped, without there being a way to save the world _and_ your life."

"And Turtle Island has to know what it is…" Kabuto inferred. "Incredible, Sasuke… Lord Orochimaru would be proud."

"I'll say." Tsunade added. "Looking at you now, Sasuke Uchiha… You remind me of Orochimaru back when we were still kids. Before he… you know…"

Sasuke lowered his head, embarrassed. "… Thank you. And thanks for looking after Sakura too."

"No need to thank _me_ for that." Tsunade smirked, "Becoming my apprentice was Sakura's idea."

"Anyway, before we head for Turtle Island, we got to take Black Zetsu down, right?" Suigetsu interjected, stepping down from the spot he listened to Gamamaru's - or rather Turtle Island's - prophecy. "If only we had any idea where he was... He's certainly realized we're on to him and got his targets out of danger by now… What could he be doing? Making a mad dash for Mount Myoboku the long way?"

"He did say that he lost track of us at Shimeri Suna Estate…" Karin recalled. "That would mean he _wasn't there_ when we met Butsuma and Jashin…"

"… and Butsuma and Jashin are among Black Zetsu's potential targets." Jugo added. "Butsuma was a Senju and Jashin was an Uzumaki. It's possible Black Zetsu might be trying to confirm what's happened to them before making the trip here."

"Would Black Zetsu know where to look for them though?" Naruto asked.

Every member of Taka gave a pained nod as they responded:

"… yeah."

"Black Zetsu was behind both of their resurrections and subsequent imprisonments." Sasuke explained. "He'd have known where they were from the start. In fact, he knew going ahead of us to Butsuma's island would have been dangerous since you were unknowingly swimming there. That's why he was forced away from the path we needed to take, and missed us taking off after Kurotsuchi's party."

"What about Yamato?" Kabuto asked. "If I might be a potential target because of Karin's DNA, then _he_ might be one because of Lord First's. I know he was away on a mission when we came here, so he couldn't come with us, but…"

"Yamato's away on a mission?" Sasuke replied, puzzled. "Where did he go?"

"To the _Land of Wind._ " said Naruto. "After I told Kakashi-Sensei about you and Karin passing out after Kurotsuchi's party and he rounded up Sai, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru, I asked where Captain Yamato was, and Kakashi-Sensei said he was deployed to help _fix up Yoshitsune's mess._ He left even before Sakura-chan left with Team Asuma to capture Hidan. I didn't run into him on the way there though, so he must have already been pretty close to the Hidden Sand by the time Kurotsuchi's party was over… Oh crap!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "So you're thinking the same thing I am. If Yamato was in the Land of Wind during Kurotsuchi's party, and Black Zetsu was _also_ in the Land of Wind during Kurotsuchi's party, then Black Zetsumay have spotted Yamato and learned where he is."

"Then we have to hurry and get to Captain Yamato before Black Zetsu does!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke nodded. "Agreed. This isn't like our case where he didn't know where we were; if we don't act now, Yamato _will_ die. Let's head back to the Hidden Leaf right away. Naruto, do you want to take Jugo's spot on Odaka or fly alongside us with Six Paths Sage Mode? You'll have to come with us to track Black Zetsu."

"I learned the hard way two days ago that I do _not_ have a lot of time in Six Paths Sage Mode, so I'll happily take Jugo's spot, if he doesn't mind."

 _So you were weakened by our battle three months ago too, huh…_ Sasuke thought.

Jugo smiled. "I do not mind… In fact, I've come to enjoy flying using my own wings…"

"Then we'll leave the rest to you." Kabuto said, giving Taka and Naruto a salute. "All of you have dreams and ambitions for the future… Don't give up, and don't die until they become true."

Tsunade doubled back in shock. "That's completely different from what you said at Tanzaku Castle!"

"You got _**that**_ right, Granny!" Naruto added with a chuckle.

"You have Itachi to thank for that…" Kabuto spoke under his breath as he looked down, careful that the toads didn't hear his words.

"It wasn't entirely his doing." Sasuke objected, knowing what Kabuto said having read his lip movements with the Sharingan. "You wouldn't have broken free if you didn't have the will all on your own. He may have given you the _opportunity_ , but _seizing_ that opportunity? That was all you."

"I, you're…" Kabuto's eye twitched, but he quickly regained composure, adjusted his glasses, and smiled:

"You're right. Thank you."

At that moment, Naruto's Sage Mode ran out. He then looked down to Fukasaku:

"It's time we went back to the Hidden Leaf! You know what to do!"

"Yes, Naruto-chan!"

The small green toad hopped toward the well as quickly as he could.

Once Fukasaku arrived at the Hidden Leaf Village, he reverse summoned everyone back in the same manner his wife had done two days prior. Sasuke then promptly summoned Odaka, taking off with Taka and Naruto and heading for the Hidden Sand Village immediately. Meanwhile, Kabuto and Tsunade started for the Hokage's office to inform Kakashi of the plan.

[X-X-X]

One day later, in the Land of Rivers…

Izumo sighed in disappointment as he looked back while walking northeast with the rest of his team. "You're supposed to be the _team captain_ , Yamato-Senpai… You should be in _front_ , not straddling in the back!"

"This mission took a lot out of him in particular, Izumo." Kotetsu said from beside him. "I'd say he's earned some time to rest."

"Besides, he's not slowing us down all that much." Aoba added, walking alongside Yamato just a few paces behind Izumo and Kotetsu. "At the pace we're going, we'll still be home within two days, just as planned."

Yamato instinctively turned his head to look Aoba straight in the eye the moment he heard his last remark. He fought off his fatigue to respond:

"Do me a favour and _never say that phrase again_ , please? The last time you got your hopes up… Kisame Hoshigaki sent his info on us to Akatsuki… and then I got _kidnapped_ to power up the White Zetsu Army a few days later…"

"That _wasn't_ my fault. I take full responsibility for Sasuke Uchiha defecting from the Hidden Leaf four years ago, but your predicament… that… that wasn't my fault."

Yamato raised an eyebrow, startled. "Wait… _you're_ responsible for Sasuke Uchiha's defection?"

"I sort of said the wrong thing at the wrong time… If I didn't panic and say that Itachi Uchiha was looking for Naruto Uzumaki while Sasuke was in the room, then I don't know what would have happened…"

"Well, Naruto and Sakura would be different people, and I might not have ever met Sai, so I can't complain too much."

Aoba's mouth hung open for a few seconds, the Special Jonin surprised by Yamato's admission.

"Regardless, the two of you have _awful_ luck." Kotetsu remarked. "I'm honestly surprised our mission went off without a hitch between your track records and people with Curse Marks in every town we visited…"

Izumo smacked himself in the forehead and sighed. "Now that you've said it, something's _bound_ to go wrong… Urgh…"

[X-X-X]

A few hours later, the team made a sudden stop. Yamato's footsteps stopped first, prompting the others to stop in turn and look to him in confusion. Izumo voiced his concerns, looking backward to eye his commander:

"Did you finally collapse from fatigue, Captain?"

"No…" Kotetsu and Aoba said in unison, looking to their left.

Izumo turned his head and raised his eyebrows at the sight before him: the ruins of a cave surrounded on all sides by water.

"This was the place where Sakura and Lady Chiyo battled Sasori of the Red Sand." Yamato explained. "I wasn't a member of Team Seven until after that, so I've never seen this place for myself until now. I just wanted a moment to take in the atmosphere of such an important place in my team's history…"

"I think I get why you stopped now." Izumo said. But he would soon stroke his chin with suspicion:

"It's really weird though, isn't it? We didn't encounter this site on our way _to_ the Hidden Sand, and I'm certain we've been taking the same route we did before…"

"Watch out!"

A voice was screaming at them from the sky. The four Leaf ninja all looked up to find a golden light descend and land in front of them. Yamato knew instantly who had just dropped in on them:

"Naruto?!"

Before another word could be spoken, yellow chakra burst out from Naruto, protecting himself and Yamato's squad, coalescing into a fox form as it began running for the water at breakneck speeds.

 _My chakra's getting a boost just being in here…_ Yamato thought.

"Look behind you, Captain Yamato!" Naruto commanded.

Yamato turned around as instructed and found that countless spikes were protruding from the trees that were behind him when he looked upon Akatsuki's former hideout. Within the span of a second, they were firing on him.

"The trees are attacking us!"

"Got it!"

Yamato nodded to Naruto's yell and made a hand seal, then stretched out his arms:

" _ **Wood Style: Dome Wall!**_ "

A massive hemisphere of wood emerged from Yamato's hands to shield Kurama's avatar from behind. Miniature trees grew all over in reaction to Kurama's chakra, and the wall of forest blocked each and every spear. In the next few seconds, Naruto stopped the group, standing on the water on the other side of the cavern. Then he looked skyward and gave a shout:

"Your turn, Sasuke!"

Yamato and the others looked up to see a hawk soaring idly in midair. _That hawk is too big to be a common messenger bird…  
_

Yamato only briefly gazed at the bird before quickly returning his focus to his wood shield. He struggled to keep it up further, and within seconds, the shield crumbled while spears continued to fire. Half were headed towards him, while the other half were being shot upward, presumably at the bird.

All shots, however, started to be pulled back, by what appeared to Yamato to be nothing more than gravity:

" _ **Deva Path: Planetary Devastation!**_ "

As the voice echoed in the sky, the entire forest that was attacking Yamato and the spears said trees were firing began crumbling inward toward a single black mass at the centre of the forest. The mass rose a fair distance into the air, but not quite as high as the bird's height, and all the foliage and dirt converged into a miniature planet. Every spear that attempted to be fired afterward was pulled in the moment it left a tree, stopping the forest from shooting any more spears. The technique itself was not the most bizarre thing about the experience in Yamato's mind, however:

 _That voice… it belongs to a woman…_

" _ **Water Style: Super Water Prison Jutsu!**_ " another voice echoed, this one a young man's. After the shout, water from the lake Naruto and his team were standing on via Kurama rose up into the sky in the form of three serpentine dragons. They flew around the miniature planet, biting each other and expanding until at last the entire planet was submerged in a single ocean.

 _I haven't seen Water Style jutsu of this caliber since Kisame Hoshigaki… Amazing…_ Yamato thought.

"Time to end this!" A third voice echoed, this one Yamato actually recognized:

 _Sasuke Uchiha… it's been quite a while since I last saw you…_

Yamato then saw a man with white wings leap off the bird with Sasuke held in one oversized white hand. After flying for a second or so, the winged man threw Sasuke straight for the miniature planet, which had begun slowly crumbling.

Nothing, however, left the titanic water prison's clutches. Upon realizing this, a black humanoid figure emerged from a patch of ground in panic:

" _No… I have no way out! …_ _ **Curse you, Uchiha!**_ "

" _ **Your**_ curse was lifted three months ago!" Sasuke retorted as he closed his fist and sparkling blue lightning surged out from it. "It's time you answered for everything you put my clan and the world through these past thousand years!"

Sasuke finished his mid-launch punch and made contact with the water prison. He then opened his fist, and in the next instant, the entire water prison and everything inside it was shocked with lightning chakra, silencing the darkness caught within.

At that moment Sasuke felt a surge of pain strike his head; Black Zetsu's every last memory was bombarding his mind at once. His creation at the hands of Kaguya Otsutsuki; his altering of Hagaromo's message for Indra; his meeting Jashin for the first time, which led to him stalking and murdering Kamina and Yoko; his manipulation of Madara, resulting in Butsuma's revival among other things; his involvement in the murder and replacement of Nagato's parents; his hiring the Hidden Cloud to destroy the Hidden Whirlpool Village, which triggered Jashin's resurrection, Kagura the Second's move to the Hidden Hot Water Village, and the deaths of Rin and Yahiko; his bringing Obito to the Hidden Leaf the day of Naruto's birth; his time in Akatsuki and his participation in the Fourth Ninja World War; and most recently, his stalking of Sasuke himself, his meeting with Shuryo Jikan, and his attempt on Naruto's life.

The enormity of Black Zetsu's hatred overwhelmed Sasuke, and he promptly felt his consciousness fading.

From where Yamato was looking, he saw the planet and the water covering it fall to the ground once the lightning dissipated. He could also see the same white-winged man catch Sasuke in mid-air and slowly descend toward the cavern that Sakura fought Sasori in, a safe distance away from the debris. He also saw the bird dive for the same spot as Sasuke was heading… and where Naruto was taking him.

[X-X-X]

Karin jumped for joy after everyone met at the cavern. "Yeah… I can sense no chakra from Black Zetsu's body at all! You got him good!"

Naruto stroked his chin. "You remembered to combine the Human Path with Chidori, right Sasuke? We just killed one of our only two leads if you forgot…"

"I remembered, idiot… I got his memories… all of them… all _1000 years_ of them… I need time to process them all… Suigetsu… you're Odaka's pilot until I wake up…"

With that order, Sasuke promptly fell asleep and into Jugo's arms.

"This has gone on long enough without an explanation, guys." Yamato interjected. "My team and I deserve to know what just happened here."

"We don't exactly have the time to give you the full story, Wood Man." said Suigetsu.

"Mind your tongue!" Aoba protested. "This is Yamato-Senpai! He is an elite Jonin who served under Lord Hokage himself in the Anbu!"

Suigetsu rolled his eyes. "He also served as White Zetsu's _battery_ , and was about to be Black Zetsu's _appetizer_ until we came along and saved his ass."

"Stop this fighting already!" Naruto interjected. "We're wasting time as is… we should just explain what we did and let Kakashi-Sensei tell the rest when Captain Yamato and his team get back."

Jugo nodded. "I agree."

"So to start off, I was scanning the Land of Rivers below for Black Zetsu using Chakra Mode, and Karin was sensing for you, Captain Yamato. We ended up finding both of you near each other, so I dropped down off Odaka and helped you guys escape from his attack. Apparently Black Zetsu learned how to use Wood Style while merged with the planet since the war ended, and he moved the trees around to lead you to where Sakura-chan and Granny Chiyo fought Sasori to distract you."

"After that, well…" Karin put her hands on her hips in triumph, "Sasuke lost his soul's left arm inside the Shinigami, so he can't use hand seals with his own body anymore. And since Black Zetsu could merge with the ground, the best way to limit his range would be to take the ground he's merged with _off the planet._ So after asking me _ever so nicely_ , Sasuke borrowed _my_ body to use Planetary Devastation!"

"Next up, I used Water Style to stuff Black Zetsu into one gigantic Water Prison!" Suigetsu added. "That set Sasuke and Jugo up for the grand finale!"

"Once Black Zetsu was trapped, Sasuke relinquished control of Karin's body, and then I threw him straight at Black Zetsu." Jugo added in turn. "Sasuke combined the Rinnegan's Human Path with the Chidori, and then spread his _Human Path Lightning Chakra_ through the entire water prison Suigetsu provided. This let him take the souls and memories of anyone caught in the lightning… namely, Black Zetsu himself."

Yamato's eyes widened with awe. "Extraordinary… Combining all your talents like that… What name do you have for that combination attack?"

"We haven't really decided on one yet, and we couldn't set it in stone without Sasuke's opinion anyway." Karin said. "But if I had to name it myself, I think I'd go for something like _**Storm Style: Planetary Exorcism!**_ "

"Why that name, Karin?" Jugo asked.

" _Storm Style_ because it combines Sasuke's _Lightning_ and Suigetsu's _Water_ , for starters. Then _Planetary Exorcism_ because it takes away the souls of everyone on a small planet… How's the name, guys?!"

"Short, sweet, to the point… I like it!" said Suigetsu with a grin.

Naruto gave Karin a thumbs-up. "I like it too! Way better than a name Dad would give it… _'_ _Storm Style: Hallowed Lightning Sending a Planet of Poor Unfortunate Souls to a Watery Grave'_ is _**far**_ too much of a mouthful!"

"I find it fitting as well." Jugo added. "We need only Sasuke's consent to make it official."

"So what are you guys doing now that you've saved us, killed Black Zetsu, and acquired his memories?" Izumo asked. "As large as Odaka is, even she can't fit nine people on her back."

"The four of you are going back to the Hidden Leaf on foot." said Karin. "We have another destination to fly to on Odaka. The Hokage will tell you everything, as we've said already."

Yamato stood up from where he was sitting. "Okay… I don't know what you're up to, but I trust you if Naruto's with you. Aoba, Izumo, Kotetsu… we're finishing our trip back to the Hidden Leaf. It's time to go."

Yamato's squad mates all nodded and stood up with him, proceeding to walk on the water northeast.

"See ya, Captain Yamato!"

Naruto waved goodbye, and then climbed into his previous seat on Odaka. Karin followed suit while Jugo placed the unconscious Sasuke in Suigetsu's usual seat, and then Suigetsu took the pilot's seat as per Sasuke's instructions.

"Kawww!"

Odaka made her proud cry as she took off with Jugo at her side for Taka's next stop.


	75. Chapter 74: Truth of Turtle Island

With Jugo serving as a guide, Odaka flew Suigetsu, Karin, Naruto, and an unconscious Sasuke southeast toward the southern coast of the Land of Fire, where Turtle Island would have stopped to let Killer B off. Shortly after sunset, however, Odaka suffered from fatigue and had to land before they could reach Turtle Island. She landed in a forest deep enough that the nearest town couldn't be seen with the naked eye. When she did, Karin lifted Sasuke and helped him off Odaka, resting his body next to a tree. Meanwhile, Naruto and Suigetsu descended from Odaka and Jugo landed a few feet away himself.

Suigetsu quickly ran behind a tree and threw up as soon as his feet touched the ground. "I am _not_ doing that again… I'll stick to the seas, thank you very much…" he said, wiping residual vomit off his mouth.

Suigetsu then returned to the group from behind the tree. As soon as he did, Karin promptly left Sasuke to his slumber and faced the Hozuki:

"You've never been sky-sick before, Suigetsu!"

"I've never been the _pilot_ before either, Karin! You're the _second in command_ , so he should have gotten _**you**_ to do it!"

"I'm the sensor! I can't do my job properly if I have to steer Odaka at the same time! But almost _anybody_ can do your job in your place! Naruto, for example!"

"Then why didn't Sasuke get Naruto to be the pilot instead?!"

"You really think Odaka would listen to Naruto's commands after only riding on her _**ONCE?!**_ Sasuke chose you because Odaka's _known you longer_ and so she can _**trust you**_ more!"

"Kawww!" Odaka cried in agreement.

A few feet away, Naruto was whispering into Jugo's ear:

"Hey, uh… do Karin and Suigetsu always act like this?"

"Very often." Jugo whispered back. "I don't understand it myself, but it seems like they _enjoy_ being at each other's throats…"

Naruto crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "I don't get that at all. I wouldn't be able to _stand it_ if a girl I liked nagged at me every time I messed up…"

Suigetsu suddenly turned his head, eyeing Naruto and Jugo suspiciously. "What are you two talking about?"

"Yeah… what's so important that you don't want us to hear it?" Karin added with a smirk. "There's no point hiding anything from me; you both know that!"

"Uhhh…" Naruto began sweating bullets, looking to his sides frantically. "Hey! Sasuke's waking up! Let's ask him about Black Zetsu's memories!"

Suigetsu pointed at Naruto with a scowl on his face. "You're just trying to change the subject!"

"No… he's right. Sasuke actually _is_ waking up."

Karin's eyes were focused on Sasuke during her reply, watching as the Uchiha's eyes slowly opened.

In another second, Sasuke stood up and yawned. The others approached him with relief and curiosity in their expressions.

"I take it we didn't make it in one day…" Sasuke said as he observed his surroundings. Karin, Suigetsu, Jugo, and Naruto all nodded. "That's fine. We still have plenty of time. How was the trip?"

Suigetsu shivered. "Don't ask me to pilot Odaka ever again, Boss…"

"I won't."

Sasuke walked past everyone and pet Odaka on the top of her head. "You did well today, Odaka. You deserve some rest."

Without another word, Sasuke stopped petting Odaka and made a hand seal, and in the next instant Odaka disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"So what could you decipher from Black Zetsu's memories?" Jugo asked while his Sage Mode ran out.

"Yeah… How did Black Zetsu get Curse Energy?!" Karin added.

Sasuke's expression darkened. "About that… Black Zetsu had _no memory_ of ever drinking from the Holy Grail, and he also never had contact with Shuryo Jikan until an hour before his encounter with Naruto."

"But then… How, Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"There's only one possibility I can think of. Black Zetsu didn't 'receive' Curse Energy; he was _created_ with it."

"So that Kaguya bitch got Curse Energy from Shuryo Jikan, and then _used it to make Black Zetsu?!_ " Suigetsu inferred.

Sasuke nodded. "Most likely, yes. As for the reason why… I think Kaguya was contacted by Shuryo Jikan for the same reason Jashin was: _extinguishing the Light of Life from the world._ "

Naruto's eyes widened. "Oh! You mean the Chakra Fruit from the Shinju! Kaguya ate the Chakra Fruit and became the first person in the world with chakra! But why would Shuryo Jikan mistake _Kurama_ for the _Chakra Fruit?_ And how could anyone make that mistake to begin with?"

"There's only one way to find out, Naruto." said Sasuke. "Ask the one that _made them give off a similar light_ in the prophecy that saved your life."

"You're telling me the light at the top of the tree is the _**Chakra Fruit?!**_ "

"Assuming that Sasuke's right about why Kaguya got Curse Energy, then it makes sense!" Karin interjected. "Turtle Island… It was trying to tell you through Gamamaru's prophecy that Kurama and the Chakra Fruit have _similar enough chakra_ that Shuryo Jikan can't tell the difference between them! And on top of that, Shuryo Jikan might even stop trying to destroy the world if there were a Chakra Fruit… that clock! It meant _time passing!_ After Shuryo Jikan comes, it takes _**only**_ the fruit, leaving you and the tree alone!"

"That's what I'm thinking too." Sasuke added. "But right now our thesis is merely conjecture. We still have to ask Turtle Island what it really meant by the prophecy in order to be sure. So our destination hasn't changed. We fly to Turtle Island first thing tomorrow morning."

"I'm sensing a lot of chakra a few kilometres away. It's probably a town; we can have dinner and stay the night there!"

"Then lead the way, Karin."

The kunoichi did as Sasuke instructed and leapt into the trees. The four shinobi followed her to their resting place for the remainder of the night.

[X-X-X]

The following morning, Taka and Naruto had breakfast, and then spared no time flying further south on Odaka, Jugo flying alongside her in Sage Mode as he was now getting accustomed to. Taka managed to arrive at Turtle Island before noon. Karin and Suigetsu stared in wonder at the spire-filled jungle on top of the turtle's shell, seeing it up close for the first time. For the others, however, coming to the island a second time overwhelmed them with anxiety:

 _When Geezer Toad had the prophecy about me meeting Uncle B, did you send him that vision too? Were you trying to get me to come to you… on purpose?_ Naruto thought.

 _This place… It's what I would like to call home. After finding all the Senjutsu Schools in the world with Tenten, I want to settle down here and spend the rest of my days with the animals… Was this your intention? Were we connected in some way from the start?_ Jugo thought.

 _The Waterfall of Truth… Was that your doing as well? Was it nothing more than a Genjutsu you placed on me? Now that I know you can send Gamamaru vague images from halfway across the planet, how detailed can they get if one is right on top of you? …_

While Sasuke was thinking, he ordered Odaka to land on Turtle Island's neck with the reins. Once everyone dismounted and Jugo landed, Sasuke cancelled Odaka's summon and began running for Turtle Island's head. Before the others could follow Sasuke, Jugo looked down to his feet in confusion:

"That's strange…"

This comment stopped Sasuke in his tracks and prompted him to look back at the others. "What's strange, Jugo?"

"The natural energy here: there's _more of it_ than before. Still not as much as Ryuchi Cave or Mount Myoboku, but more than what was here last time…"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "It's only been five days since the last time we were here, and the natural energy _increased?_ "

"Maybe Turtle Island is the Great Turtle Sage!" Karin interjected. "Jugo was saying there's a _Turtle Senjutsu School…_ Maybe this is it, and it's been gathering natural energy ever since you left!"

Naruto shook his head. "No way! For one thing, Guy-Sensei summoned a talking turtle here during his last fight with Kisame and he didn't recognize where he was. And on top of that, it had to move between Sasuke and Jugo leaving and now, to let Uncle B off so he could run to the Hidden Leaf. And you can't gather natural energy without staying perfectly still!"

"No, that's wrong." Jugo objected. "One tenth of my clan can gather natural energy while moving. It happens passively, without any conscious effort on our parts. But we lose control of our minds if we haven't trained to be genuine Sages… I find it hard to believe, but Turtle Island may have the same ability that I do."

"What the fuck?!" Suigetsu shouted. "This gigantic turtle will go crazy eventually?!"

"I'm not so sure about that." Sasuke said. "Have you noticed how we aren't moving right now? Despite standing on _the neck of a living creature?_ "

Naruto's jaw dropped. "It's _completely still…_ So when it reaches the right amount of natural energy, it'll transform without losing its mind?"

"It might even be able to _properly communicate_ with us." Sasuke added. "Am I wrong in claiming that the natural energy level of Senjutsu Schools is the amount needed for _animals to speak the language of humans,_ Jugo?"

"No, but I should be able to translate for it anyway, shouldn't I?"

"It's possible that what it says and what it _means to say_ are two different things." said Sasuke. "Remember when we first crossed paths with it on our way to the Hidden Cloud?"

"Yeah. We stopped and waved hello." Suigetsu recalled. "It said hello back."

"That's what it seemed like, and indeed, that's how Jugo interpreted Turtle Island's speech, but now we know two more facts that paint our meeting in a very different light. First, Black Zetsu was _following us_ , waiting for me to summon Sakura so he could kill her right in front of me. Second, Turtle Island _knew of Black Zetsu's whereabouts_ when it sent Gamamaru the prophecy. What happens when you take both of those statements together?"

Karin's jaw dropped as she deduced the answer:

"Turtle Island _knew Black Zetsu was following us._ … And it tried to warn us, but the words didn't come out right!"

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "But at the time, for Karin to not sense him, wouldn't Black Zetsu have been merged with the planet, down at the ocean floor? The only one that could sense him like that is me when I'm in Chakra Mode…"

"Actually… Turtle Island might be able to detect malicious intent as well." Sasuke said. "You took the Waterfall of Truth test too, Naruto. Did you ever ask yourself how the test even worked?Finding the _deepest, darkest secrets_ you hide even from yourself and giving them a mind of their own? How can the Waterfall of Truth function the way it does _without_ Turtle Island detecting the most malicious intents within us?"

Naruto sighed in resignation. "Now that you mention it that does make some kind of sense… So Turtle Island can detect malicious intent like Kurama, and gather natural energy passively like Jugo, at the same time… Why can it do both those things at once?!"

"It's about time we found out."

Sasuke turned to face Turtle Island's head once more. "It appears that Turtle Island wants the same amount of natural energy as Ryuchi Cave. Jugo, Naruto, combine your chakra with it and help it gather natural energy. Don't stop until you feel like you're in Mount Myoboku."

Jugo silently nodded and flew to the top of Turtle Island's head, where he sat down and connected his chakra with the turtle's.

"Like what Fukasaku and Shima did with Pervy Sage when he fought Nagato? Got it!" Naruto said as he followed Jugo and made a dozen Shadow Clones. Each clone connected with Turtle Island at the top of its head and gathered natural energy along with Jugo and the original.

 _Between Jugo, Naruto, and twelve of his Shadow Clones, this shouldn't take long._ Sasuke thought as he watched the scene unfold with Karin and Suigetsu just behind him. What followed was silence; Jugo and Naruto focused on gathering natural energy while the others watched in anticipation, waiting for the moment Turtle Island would have enough natural energy for… whatever would happen when it did.

Five minutes passed in this state, before at last the amount of natural energy needed was reached.

"That's enough." Jugo said, breaking himself away from Turtle Island.

Without a word, Naruto nodded and his Shadow Clones disappeared in puffs of smoke as he stood up. Naruto started walking away half-asleep, drained from having just experienced gathering natural energy for the equivalent of over an hour straight. "Man, that was a tough five minutes… Let's get back and see what happens."

Jugo rushed to Naruto's side, and then helped him walk the rest of the way. "Agreed."

When Jugo and Naruto returned to the others' position on the neck, Sasuke tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, confused by the lack of any noticeable changes. "So… what happened? It doesn't seem like gathering all that natural energy amounted to anything…"

"No… you're wrong about that." Karin objected, almost shivering. "This turtle's chakra… it's getting intense. Very intense… I haven't felt chakra on this level since… since _**Infinite Tsukiyomi!**_ "

"Infinite Tsukiyomi?!"

Immediately upon shouting, Suigetsu foamed at the mouth and lost his footing. Karin caught him by the right hand with her own right hand and pulled him back up, just in time to see Sasuke was no longer right in front of them.

 _Infinite Tsukiyomi, huh…_

Sasuke furrowed his brow and started running for the head to check on something. When he could see the top of Turtle Island's head clearly, his eyes widened and the rest of his body froze with terror.

 _This… this change… what does it mean?!_

Sasuke witnessed part of Turtle Island's forehead open up, revealing a gigantic third eye. One he'd seen several times before. A red eye with countless black ripples converging on a single point in the centre, the innermost three rings adorned with three tomoe each.

The moment the eye opened fully, the turtle let out a deafening roar, one so loud that all of Taka and Naruto collapsed to their knees from the sheer force of the voice, and moments later they all passed out from the shock.

[X-X-X]

Sasuke was the first to wake up, and when he did, he found himself in a place he thought he'd never visit again. He was lying in a wasteland that seemed to have no end, and off in the distance he could see a moon in the sky, lower to the ground than it should have been. He stood up and looked behind himself on instinct, and found Naruto, Jugo, Karin, and Suigetsu all asleep.

 _So Naruto and I were taken here again… to Kaguya's core dimension._

It was then that Sasuke began to notice a difference between the last time he had been here and now. He could see over a hundred disembodied spirits, one all-black and human-sized, one all-red and massive - but not nearly as big as Turtle Island - and all the others light blue and the size of a child. He recognized them all the moment he laid eyes on them:

 _Black Zetsu? Gyuki? Shin's clones? Why are your souls_ _HERE_ _of all places?_

It was then that a deep, booming voice without a discernible source echoed in Sasuke's ears:

" **I have to thank you all for returning me home. I'm not sure I would have been able to come back here on my own in time.** "

 _This just like with the Shinigami… No…_

Sasuke realized what his thoughts were insinuating and he froze once more, paralyzed under the weight of the reality that just struck him.

" **I'm sure you have a lot of questions, and I am willing to answer them. Before I do, however, allow me to take care of some… preliminary measures.** "

At that moment, the souls of Black Zetsu and Shin's clones all disappeared in the blink of an eye, with only Gyuki's remaining. In their place, Sasuke saw a gargantuan turtle warp into existence. It was the same one Sasuke had seen before, _Rinne Sharingan_ and all, though it no longer had its shell or the forest that developed on top of it. Instead, it now had a number of tails, each ending in the shape of hands, large enough to tower over the spikes on the turtle's back. On reflex, Sasuke began counting the tails, and his jaw dropped when he reached the end:

"You have… _ten tails!_ Almost like…"

The turtle turned its head toward the moon. " **That** _ **beast**_ **you know is but a** _ **pale imitation**_ **of my own true form.** **It seems I must also thank you for punishing the woman who caused all this… I will see to it** **personally** **that she never escapes the prison you have made for her. Now wake your comrades; I am sure all five of you have a** **lot** **to discuss with me.** "

"Yes, right away…"

Sasuke turned around and went to wake up the others, starting with Naruto and Jugo, and then Karin and Suigetsu behind them. They all slowly got up, but quickly jumped to their feet when they saw the monstrous, shell-less, ten-tailed turtle with a third eye.

" **Please relax, all of you.** " the turtle said, bombarding all five with its voice. " **You need not be frightened. I wish only to answer your questions and guide you in the right direction on your path. Then I will send you all back to your world. Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Karin Uzumaki the Second, Suigetsu Hozuki, Jugo of the Scales… I have no true name, only the ones you may give me, for I have existed before the concept of naming itself. I am the source of all chakra in the universe, the one sworn to observe and protect all life for eternity. I am what you might call… the God of Life.** "


	76. Chapter 75: Root of the Problem

" _ **GOD OF LIFE?!**_ " Karin, Suigetsu, and Naruto exclaimed in unison, Jugo's jaw dropping all the while, the four of them blue with shock at the ten-tailed turtle's claim.

"I'm inclined to believe it." Sasuke said as he looked back to the others, prompting them all to look his way in turn with apprehension. "How it's speaking right now is just like the Shinigami. Black Zetsu heard Shuryo Jikan speak the same way too."

"Are you sure about this, Sasuke? The Shinigami _and_ Shuryo Jikan have the same method of speaking?" Jugo asked.

" **Sasuke is correct.** " Turtle Island answered. " **All three of us share the same means of communicating with mortal souls. That is to be expected, of course, given that we are all the same class of being.** "

"Then on top of you and the Shinigami, Shuryo Jikan is also a _**god?!**_ " Suigetsu loudly inferred. Turtle Island nodded in response. "What the fuck is it a god _**of**_ , then?!"

" **As I am the God of Life and the Shinigami is the God of Death, what you call Shuryo Jikan is the God of** _ **Rebirth**_ **.** **When a planet with life is no longer able to support life, it is Shuryo Jikan's duty to destroy that planet and create it anew, allowing life to be reborn. Aside from when it is required to perform its duty, it sleeps at the centre of the universe… or at least, that is the ideal.** "

Naruto gasped. " _Kaguya!_ Kaguya eating the Chakra Fruit must have woken it up when it didn't need to be!"

" **You are correct.** **This brings us to the heart of the matter. To save your world, you must create a new Chakra Fruit and present it to Shuryo Jikan when it arrives on March 1st, fulfilling Kaguya Otsutsuki's contract with Shuryo Jikan in her place.** "

"So our theory that Kaguya eating the Chakra Fruit provoked Shuryo Jikan into giving her Curse Energy was correct." Sasuke said.

"As was our interpretation of your prophecy." Karin added.

Turtle Island nodded. " **Indeed.** **Actually,** _ **all but one**_ **of your ideas regarding myself, Shuryo Jikan, and Kaguya Otsutsuki are true. Thankfully my attempts at making the situation easy to understand succeeded.** "

"Where did we go wrong?" Jugo asked. "You claimed that one of our ideas _isn't_ correct."

" **The idea that this dimension belonged to Kaguya to start with. It was once** _ **my**_ **dimension before Kaguya invaded and cast me out during her preparation to retaliate against her children. Hence the depowered form you are used to.** "

"Then what about the other five dimensions Kaguya could travel to?" Sasuke wondered. "Are those dimensions yours as well?"

Turtle Island stared toward a point in space too far away for Taka and Naruto to follow along. " **No… Kaguya must have created them herself.** **They were not present when I was here last.** "

Naruto raised his hand. "So, umm… Mr. God Turtle!"

" **What concerns you, Naruto Uzumaki?** "

"If our theory about the prophecy was right, then why did you make Kurama and the Chakra Fruit give off the same light?"

" **That is because the Chakra Fruit was my conduit for informing Shuryo Jikan if a planet has life. In other words, it was the** _ **Light of Life.**_ **That is the reason why the Shinju and the Chakra Fruit existed in the first place: I** **created them** **using the energy that comprises this very dimension to communicate with Shuryo Jikan. It can perceive the Light of Life even during its slumber, similarly to how you humans can see lights even with your eyes closed.** **When Hagaromo created the Tailed Beasts from the Ten-Tails' chakra - from** _ **the Chakra Fruit itself**_ **-** **Kurama received the most of that chakra, so his signature came to resemble that of the Chakra Fruit the most of the Tailed Beasts. Kurama effectively becoming a** _ **substitute Light of Life**_ **is the reason why Wood Style resonates so strongly with it. But as another result, when Jashin killed Kurama with the assistance of Kagura the First and the entire Uzumaki clan…** "

"… Shuryo Jikan mistook Kurama for the Chakra Fruit and came to believe that the world couldn't support life anymore, only to be confused and angered when it learned that life still thrived on our planet." Sasuke inferred. "The same occurred with Kaguya, I take it?"

" **The only difference was that when it occurred with Kaguya Otsutsuki, there was only one living organism with anything resembling the Light of Life.** **That is the cause of Shuryo Jikan's demands changing. Compared to Jashin's case, it only demanded that Kaguya return the Light of Life to its rightful place at the summit of the Shinju, and gave Kaguya Curse Energy as an incentive to follow through.** "

Suigetsu's eye twitched. "How exactly is Curse Energy supposed to be _incentive_ to give the Chakra Fruit back?! _Immortality_ and making it mentally easier to kill people _**hardly**_ sound like gifts you'd want to give the bitch with all the power in the world when you want her to give that power up!"

" **There is a** _ **third**_ **aspect of Curse Energy that Jashin was never informed of.** **Curse Energy is nothing more than a fragment of** _ **Shuryo Jikan itself**_ **. When a being with Curse Energy dies, its soul is consumed by the Curse Energy and returns with it to Shuryo Jikan to be assimilated, just like how one's body becomes Natural Energy when it decomposes and becomes one with the planet upon death. Those who cannot die** _ **cannot enter the afterlife either.**_ "

 _So that was what happened to Jashin… His soul fused with the Curse Energy and returned to Shuryo Jikan… And that probably happened with the victims of the Purge too… And it's only a matter of time for Hidan and the Frost Daimyo… Not to mention Jugo, Tenten, and the others that the Frost Daimyo fed that day! … What the fuck was Shuryo Jikan thinking, not telling Jashin about a drawback like that?!_ Karin thought.

" **That was what Shuryo Jikan hoped Kaguya would be afraid of.** " Turtle Island continued. " **Rather than curse Kaguya** _ **directly**_ **, it cursed the Light of Life inside her, threatening to bond with her over time if the Light of Life was not removed.** **Kaguya refused to listen, desperate to ensure no wars occurred on your planet and needing the Chakra Fruit's power to keep the peace, and eventually Kaguya's once noble heart was twisted into the monster she became through the Curse Energy's corruption.** "

"Then Great Grandpa Hagaromo was right when he thought that eating the Chakra Fruit caused Kaguya's turn to madness, but for the wrong reasons…" said Naruto.

 _So there was another reason for Black Zetsu's creation along with Kaguya's resurrection. Using her Curse Energy to create Black Zetsu was Kaguya's way of escaping from Shuryo Jikan's claim on her soul without having to give up on her chakra!… But in that case, Black Zetsu's soul should have gone to Shuryo Jikan when I punched it out of his body, not here…_ Sasuke thought.

"So, uh… how are we supposed to recognize Shuryo Jikan when it shows up?" Suigetsu asked. "Making a new fruit's pointless if we don't know what Shuryo Jikan looks like."

" **Only the Rinnegan and those who can sense pure destructive instinct will be able to perceive it in any way.** " Turtle Island used two of its ten tails to point at Sasuke and Naruto. " **Shuryo Jikan is best described as a virtually endless mass of pure destructive instinct. The Rinnegan will see it like a single black cloud covering the entire sky, surrounding the planet. Likewise, Kurama will sense** _ **the sky itself**_ **exuding destructive instinct, evenly distributed across the planet with not a single point with more focus than any other.** "

"That means we will have no way of knowing if Shuryo Jikan's arrived for ourselves, Suigetsu." Jugo inferred.

"Well that's just _great!_ "

"At least be grateful we can perceive it at all!" Karin shouted. "For all we knew, Shuryo Jikan could have been _incomprehensible_ to mortal minds!"

"You can't sense it either, Karin!" Suigetsu shouted back. "And you seem remarkably okay with that!"

Karin crossed her arms and looked away. "It isn't exactly unexpected… I mean, I couldn't sense the cross at Jashin's back when he was using Dad's body, and Shuryo Jikan isn't all that different from the Shinigami from what Turtle Island's been saying. So I already kind of figured it out."

" **I believe that covers everything you need to know to save your world.** "

Upon saying this, Turtle Island lowered its head closer to the group and opened its mouth, exhaling a portal in front of them. Sasuke recognized it as like the ones Kaguya used to travel through her dimensions, just large enough to fit five people inside.

The inside of the portal looked completely dark for most, but Sasuke could see what was on the other side, he figured thanks to his Rinnegan: it was the shell that Turtle Island discarded on its way back home, now its own island floating just south of the Land of Fire, still filled with its exotic wildlife.

" **Now you may return to your world and do as you must.** "

"Hold on!" Naruto objected, pointing squarely at Turtle Island's Rinne Sharingan. "There's still a bunch of stuff we don't know that we're really curious about!"

"Yeah!" Karin and Suigetsu agreed in unison.

"We're not leaving until we have our answers." Sasuke added.

"Sasuke's right." Jugo further added.

" **Oh… in that case…** "

Turtle Island swallowed the portal whole and lifted its head back into the sky. " **I will indulge your curiosities. But be warned: in the interest of keeping my divine knowledge as** _ **divine**_ **as possible, I will only answer** _ **one question each.**_ **Be careful what you ask for.** "

"Only one question, huh…" Sasuke's Rinnegan twitched. _I was really hoping to ask_ _three…_

"That blows… I had _**two**_ questions I wanted to ask!" Naruto said. Sasuke responded by looking Naruto's way, incredulous.

Jugo sighed with relief. "Thankfully there was only one question I wanted to know the answer to…"

"Me too!" Karin added.

"Anyway, we need to decide how we're going to take turns." said Suigetsu. "What's the plan, Boss?"

"Hn…"

Sasuke stroked his chin and closed his eyes. After a second of deliberation, he opened them once more:

"Everyone sure of their questions goes first. That will give the others time to think about which question they want. Some possibilities might even get eliminated by the time their turn comes around. And I'm going after Naruto for sure; he has two questions and I have three."

"What about you, Suigetsu?" Karin asked. "You didn't say how many questions you wanted to ask!"

"I'm not really sure… Being totally honest this whole 'talking with God' thing is way out of my depth… I'll just go last and hear what everyone else has to ask so I can come up with something of my own."

"Very well… all that's left is to decide who goes first between Karin and Jugo." Sasuke said. "Then Naruto will ask, followed by me, and finally Suigetsu."

"Ladies first!" Karin shouted with ecstasy as she raised her arms in the air. "You okay with that, Jugo?!"

The snake sage silently smiled and nodded.

"Then here I go!"

Karin focused her gaze skyward, toward Turtle Island's head as she took a deep breath. Then she exhaled and spoke her question:

"Why didn't Shuryo Jikan warn Jashin about the third aspect of Curse Energy?!"

 _So Karin had a question in common with me… Good. That leaves two._ Sasuke thought.

" **That is something I do not know.** " Turtle Island sadly revealed, Karin and Sasuke's eyes twitching in response. " **I am only able to comprehend** _ **what**_ **Shuryo Jikan does, not** _ **why**_ **. You will have to ask Shuryo Jikan itself for its motive.** "

Karin looked down with disappointment. "Oh… I suppose you won't give me another question because you couldn't answer that one…"

" **My lack of knowledge is a piece of knowledge itself.** **So you are correct, Karin Uzumaki: you do not get another question.** "

"Then it's my turn." Jugo interjected. "Shortly before you transported us here, we came to the conclusion that you must have the same ability as my clan, as well as Kurama's ability to detect malicious intent. You then confirmed that conclusion was correct when you said that _all but one_ of our theories were true. My question, then, is this: why do you share abilities with Kurama and my clan?"

 _Hey… I wanted to learn why Kurama can detect evil intent too! That narrows my list down to one!_ Naruto thought.

" **Phrasing your question to learn two pieces of information rather than one… Clever.** " Turtle Island remarked. " **The question is improperly worded, however; I do not share abilities with Kurama and your clan, rather that Kurama and your clan** _ **share abilities with me.**_ **The reason for that is that I bestowed these abilities to Kurama and your clan myself during the time of their creation. When Hagaromo created the Tailed Beasts, I attempted to influence his usage of** **Creation of All Things** **to allow for all the beasts to detect destructive instinct, for I knew that the one to create a new Chakra Fruit must have needed a way to recognize Shuryo Jikan… Sadly, in my depowered state only the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, Kurama, was within my influence.** "

Naruto rubbed his abdomen. _Huh… so you have another parent, Kurama! Did you get all that?!_

" **As for your clan, Jugo,** **I altered yet another's creation to allow for my ability to gather Natural Energy passively and to understand the Languages of All Life. This one, however, was a natural birth, and so it was easier for me to influence them than the Tailed Beasts. I had to make sure that, in the event my first plan to produce a creator of the Chakra Fruit failed, there was another that could fulfill the role. Someone that could harness the power of Natural Energy in conjunction with the Tailed Beasts… Someone with what you call Six Paths Sage Mode. I knew whoever was to do it needed incredibly strong physical energy, and so I decided on my back-up, your clan's progenitor: Fuma Otsutsuki, the second child of Hamura Otsutsuki's second child.** "

Sasuke's eyes widened with shock. _Hamura Otsutsuki's grandchild?!_ _If that's what I think it means, then…_

" **You are already aware that Hagaromo inherited the gifts Kaguya received from the Light of Life, while Hamura inherited what Kaguya was born with, I presume? And that Indra inherited Hagaromo's spiritual gifts while Asura inherited his physical ones?** **Hamura's children inherited their gifts a similar way. Hamura's daughter and first child - Hyuga Otsutsuki - inherited Hamura's spiritual energy, which manifested in the Byakugan. After that, Hamura's son and second child - Preta Otsutsuki - inherited Hamura's physical energy, which manifested in** _ **Shikotsumyaku**_ **. Preta's second child, Fuma, then received my blessings, his genetic code altered to suit what I needed from him and his descendants.** "

Jugo's eyes widened with awe. "So my clan and Kimimaro's were related the same way the Senju and Uzumaki clans were…"

"And that's also why Hinata and I have such similar chakra." Sasuke added. "I have Hagaromo's spiritual energy while Hinata has Hamura's."

" **Unfortunately, it seems as though my influence resulted in more harm than good in this case…** " Turtle Island looked away in shame. " **Acceleration with age and losing one's mind when Natural Energy hits the maximum were not drawbacks that I intended. Neither was the one-in-ten ratio. It seems as though humans react to gods' powers in ways that not even the divine can predict. I am truly sorry for all your clan's troubles…** "

"Thank you for answering my question all the same." Jugo said before bowing and stepping aside.

" **I believe Naruto Uzumaki is next.** " Turtle Island pointed with one of its tails. " **What do you wish to know?** "

"Alright…"

Naruto stepped forward, looking up to Turtle Island. "I've been thinking about Geezer Toad's prophecies a whole bunch lately, and I keep hurting my head when I do… I now know that you were the one giving Geezer Toad all the prophecies, so I have to ask… what _are_ the prophecies, really, and why give them to Geezer Toad in particular?"

" **You will be delighted to hear the answer to this.** " Turtle Island grinned. " **The prophecies,** **all of them…** **they were nothing more than** _ **illusions.**_ **Figments of my imagination cocked up to guide the world on the path I** **wanted** **it to take. They aren't visions of the future or anything of the sort. If they** **were** **, then Jugo's clan would have never existed.** "

Sasuke smirked. "I get it. That first prophecy of yours, the one about Asura's reincarnation learning all the names of the Tailed Beasts… that was your _first plan_ to ensure someone had the ability to make another Chakra Fruit that you alluded to earlier."

"Oh… I get it now!" Naruto's eyes lit with wonder. "Your prophecy about Pervy Sage teaching a revolutionary… that was about Nagato all along! When you first made the prophecy, I wasn't even born yet… and _Nagato just had the Rinnegan transplanted!_ You hoped Pervy Sage's teachings would lead Nagato to use the Rinnegan's power for good, rather than lead the world to ruin like Black Zetsu was working toward! And the one with me meeting Uncle B… That was you following through on your first plan! You needed me to see that Jinchuriki and Tailed Beasts could work together by watching Uncle B and Gyuki, and you needed to bring me to your back so I could start really bonding with Kurama with the help of the Falls of Truth! And none of them would have turned out true if the people involved didn't have the will to _make_ them true!"

Turtle Island smiled. " **Exactly.** **While our eyes may see different things, nothing, not even the gods, can see** _ **that which does not exist.**_ **And the future is defined as** _ **something that has yet to exist**_ **. Hence the future is unknown to all, determined only by the wills of those who wish to define it for themselves.** "

"But that means…" Karin looked at Suigetsu, sullen.

Suigetsu gave Karin a grin. "Don't worry, Karin! I'm not wasting my question on the prophecy about me. Sure, my victory's not set in stone… but that just means I can kick Killer B's ass and fuse with Samehada _faster than 'God' predicted!_ "

Karin skipped over to Suigetsu and hugged him tight. "That's the spirit!"

" **As for why Gamamaru was the one to receive them…** " Turtle Island continued, " **… that was nothing short of a miracle. When the Ten-Tailed Beast was about to be sealed it, or rather Kaguya Otsutsuki, brought Black Zetsu into this world via a portal connecting this dimension to yours. As Sasuke must have already gathered from his memories, Black Zetsu was in actuality created** _ **here**_ **before Kaguya's battle with her children, and came into this world through that portal. Of course, some of this dimension's energy leaked out and Gamamaru happened to be exposed to it. That gave me a connection to Gamamaru that I could exploit for what lay ahead, though it seems that gift came at the cost of his memory problems… Fortunately, I will no longer need to burden the old toad with my messages. Feel free to inform Gamamaru that he will no longer be receiving any prophecies.** "

"Yeah… I'll definitely do that!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning wide.

" **Sasuke Uchiha… your question is next.** "

 _Crap! … There are still two questions I want to ask… why Kaguya came to our planet in the first place, and what is up with Black Zetsu's Gyuki's, and Shin's clones' souls… If I have to choose between them, then I know what I'm asking. One is just a relic of the past… the other concerns someone who still lives, and it may have a strong impact on them… it's obvious what I have to learn._

Once Sasuke made his internal decision, he stepped forward and asked his question:

"When you first took us here, I saw the souls of Black Zetsu, Gyuki, and Shin's clones with my Rinnegan. I also saw all of them but Gyuki's disappear… One clone of Shin's still lives and I need to know what will happen to him. So my question is this: what is the nature of the bond connecting all those souls to this dimension?"

" **The short answer is that Black Zetsu, the Tailed Beasts, and the results of the Shin Shadow Clone Jutsu, were all artificially created souls.** **To elaborate, recall that I said that** _ **those that cannot die cannot enter the afterlife either.**_ **This applies to artificial souls just as it does to those cursed by Shuryo Jikan. Rather than ascend to the Pure World, artificial souls are rejected and arrive** _ **here**_ **instead. The ability to create new life from nothingness was only meant to be used for the Shinju and the Light of Life, beings without souls of their own. But Kaguya Otsutsuki, Hagaromo Otsutsuki, and Orochimaru each in turn violated that law of the universe, and as a result created life forms** **that** _ **reality itself**_ **is not yet prepared for. The only things that can be done with their souls upon death, at this point, are either resurrecting them by creating new bodies for them, or** _ **undoing the techniques that created them**_ **, returning them to the nothingness from which they came and erasing them from existence altogether.** "

"I see…" Sasuke looked away, apprehensive. "The reason that the Tailed Beasts kept coming back… You've been _reviving them_. And I guess you moved to the Land of Lightning because of Two Lights Valley, since it would provide an easier means of reconstructing Kurama's body if he died a second time."

Naruto stared at Sasuke with a dropped jaw. "Really?!"

"It's obvious from what it just said, idiot." Sasuke shrugged, and then straightened his posture as his gaze toward Turtle Island turned bitter. "But it also implied that it erased Black Zetsu and Shin's clones from existence."

" **Worry not: the last surviving Shin Shadow Clone was not erased.** " Turtle Island said. " **And further, I shall not erase any more artificial souls, assuming no more are created… something I cannot guarantee if the Shin Shadow Clones were to ever be revived. There is still evil in Orochimaru's heart, and I fear that he would create artificial souls** **again** **if he ever caught wind of the similarities his experiments had with the Tailed Beasts, that he was** _ **dangerously close**_ **to replicating** **Creation of All Things** **without even knowing it. That is why the deceased Shin Shadow Clones had to go. As for Black Zetsu… no good could possibly come from that creature's resurrection in any form whatsoever. From here on, I plan to rewrite the fabric of the multiverse to accommodate for the artificial souls that remain, but it will take exceedingly long, and some co-operation with the Shinigami. I will also revive Gyuki one final time, but no more revivals for the Tailed Beasts after that. They will no longer be needed in the world after Shuryo Jikan is stopped, and so upon death their souls will remain with me until a time comes when they may be accepted in the Pure World.** "

"You heard that, Kurama?!" Naruto asked inward as he clutched his stomach. "This is the last life you get… so let's make the best of it together!"

"It's finally time, Suigetsu!" Karin interjected, letting him go. "Ask it our last question!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Suigetsu stepped forward as Sasuke moved away.

 _The only things I really want in life are the swords and my friends… Unlike everyone else I have no connection to Mama Bitch's bloodline… I have nothing I really want to ask in regards to myself, but after hearing the others' questions, something's been gnawing at me, and it's time I dealt with it!_

Suigetsu furrowed his brows and pointed at Turtle Island's Rinne Sharingan with his right index finger:

"So, _God…_ I've noticed there were a few things you could have done to save us a whole lot of trouble! You created the Shinju and the Chakra Fruit yourself originally, but you say that we need someone with Six Paths Sage Mode. It's bullshit; you could just make another Shinju on your own! And Black Zetsu… you had the power to erase him from existence all this time, and yet you don't do it for a thousand years! You let him fuck this whole world over… practically unheeded until recently! Why didn't you do either of those things and save this world _**yourself**_ like the _protector of all life_ that you say you are?!"

" **You are mistaken: I could** _ **not**_ **do either thing until being restored to full power.** **Without sizable Natural Energy I cannot create a Shinju, and without the connection to my home dimension, my mind and body are out of sync, incapable of performing something with such precision as undoing the creation of an artificial soul. What Sasuke witnessed earlier was the first time such a thing was ever done. You've experienced another consequence of my depowering already: my inability to speak my thoughts properly while within a mortal shell. I also believe that reviving the Tailed Beasts took significantly longer than I could if I was working from here because of this… At any rate, while I am grateful for your assistance in bringing me home, and I would most certainly create a new Shinju myself… there is no time for that, I regret. I require a year at minimum to bestow a Shinju on to the world, and centuries more for the Light of Life to grow. You have little more than one month. Only a human's imagination can break the laws of the universe and produce a fully mature Shinju in that short of a time span. So the creation of a new Light of Life** _ **must be done by human hand…**_ **And that is all I shall share with you. It is time you returned to your world.** "

With those final words Turtle Island made five hand seals simultaneously, one with every pair of tails, and in the next instant, a portal opened up beneath Taka's and Naruto's feet. The five of them found themselves falling a short distance until they hit the ground at the same time without injury. They all got up just in time to find the portal above them close; they were back in the world in which they belonged.

Where they were, however, was somewhere entirely different from their location before the visit to the God of Life's dimension.

"This isn't Turtle Island's shell…" Jugo remarked as he took in his surroundings. It was a wasteland with cracks in the ground as far as the eye could see, and roots of a dead tree peeking out from underground in various places.

Karin focused her gaze on one of the roots. "You're right about that…"

"Any clue where we are?" Suigetsu wondered, looking to the sky. "It seems familiar, but for some reason I can't put finger on why…"

"Hey guys! Take a look at this!" Naruto shouted as he began running to his right. Taka followed him. After a minute or so, Naruto stopped and pointed at the ground beneath him.

They were standing in a crater, with five smaller craters lined up next to it.

"This is where Kurama and I completed the Bijuudama." said Naruto. "It collided with the Bijuudama from Matatabi, Isobu, Kokuo, Saiken, and Choumei! I remember this arrangement like the back of my hand! That must mean…"

"Yes, Naruto…" Sasuke interjected, looking back to the tree roots they saw. "This is where we battled Obito and Madara, and _Ground Zero_ for Infinite Tsukiyomi."

Everyone's jaws dropped.

Suigetsu envisioned the Shinobi Alliance scattered about. "Yeah… I remember this place now! I had a hard time recognizing it without all the people!"

"Why would Turtle Island warp us _here_ though, of all places?" Karin asked, perplexed.

"Isn't it obvious, Karin?" Sasuke smiled as he looked to the midday sky. "We have enough space, and no one will interrupt us… This is where we're going to make a new Shinju, and from it, a new Chakra Fruit… and between the five of us, we'll be able to do it _right now._ "


	77. Chapter 76: The New Shinju

Sasuke stopped gazing into the sky to look over his comrades, eager to set his plan to create a new Chakra Fruit into motion. Unfortunately, he found that Karin, Suigetsu, Jugo, and Naruto were all confused by his declaration, giving him puzzled looks.

"So… how exactly are we supposed to make a new fruit right now, Sasuke?" Jugo asked.

"The solution's surprisingly simple. Turtle Island said we needed someone with Six Paths Sage Mode to use _Creation of All Things._ We have that someone with us right now."

Sasuke pointed at Naruto as he finished his sentence.

The blond Uzumaki's jaw dropped. "How am I supposed to use Creation of All Things _**now?!**_ I get Six Paths Sage Mode, but I've never used Creation of All Things before in my life! You can't expect me to make a giant tree _**out of thin air**_ when I have no experience with the technique!"

Sasuke smacked himself in the forehead. "Then explain how you gave Kakashi a new eye to replace his Sharingan ' _out of thin air._ '"

"That was…" Naruto stroked his chin and raised an eyebrow, confused. "Actually, I still have no idea how I did that."

" _ **That**_ was Creation of All Things! You just have to do what you did to give Kakashi a new eye, but on a bigger scale!"

"Oh… Okay!"

Naruto made a wide grin as he jumped out of the crater, but he soon stopped and began pacing. "Hold up… I don't know if this will work."

"And why is that, Naruto?" Sasuke bitterly asked, his eyes narrowing with impatience.

"Well… how do I put this? … When I gave Kakashi-Sensei a new eye, I had Kakashi-Sensei himself as base for the technique. I filled a hole, not made a completely new life form from scratch… That's what you're asking me to do now."

"Then we just need to use what's left over from the _previous_ Shinju."

Sasuke leaped out of the crater and pointed at several roots protruding from the ground. "Use those roots as your base, and fill in the rest yourself."

"Yeah! I think I might be able to do that!" Naruto cracked his knuckles, "One new tree coming right up! Let's go Kura-"

"Not yet!" Karin interjected, pouncing out of the crater herself to face Naruto and Sasuke.

"What's the matter, Karin?" asked Sasuke.

"Those roots belong to a _**dead**_ tree is the matter! If Naruto completes this Shinju with Creation of All Things, then he'd just be constructing a _dead_ Shinju. We wouldn't be able to produce a Chakra Fruit from it! We need to revitalize the soil here and make the roots come alive first!"

"You bring up a good point…" Sasuke closed his eyes in contemplation. "If the ground here is dead, then a new Shinju will be useless to us…"

Suddenly, Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he looked to the crater with renewed certainty:

"Suigetsu!"

The Hozuki jumped out of the crater and stood at attention. "Yes, Boss?!"

"We need you to nourish the ground under us. Feed the soil with as much water as you can generate."

Suigetsu was practically shivering. "No way! It won't be nearly enough! You're asking me to produce a _whole lake_ 's worth of water without a source… That's some serious Kage-level stuff! The only people who have ever accomplished such a thing were the Second Hokage and Kisame! I'm good, but I'm not _**THAT**_ good!"

At that moment, Sasuke turned his head to the left to look Naruto in the eyes. Knowing instantly what Sasuke was referring to, Naruto smiled and nodded. Then his entire body began to glow a golden flame while his jacket turned into a long-coat:

"Don't worry! Leave that power gap to Kurama and me! Come here and bump fists with me, Suigetsu!"

"I don't know why, but okay…"

Suigetsu slowly walked up to Naruto and bumped his right fist onto Naruto's left. The next moment, Suigetsu's entire body was covered by a red aura with fox ears and claws, not unlike the one he saw Fuzai briefly don during his fight with Sasuke and Darui at Two Lights Valley.

"Is this Kurama's power?" Suigetsu thought aloud, looking down at himself and the aura that manifested around him.

"I didn't pass you any chakra during the war! So we have no idea how much stronger you're going to get with it… But try it out anyway! It's bound to give you a pretty sizable boost no matter what!"

Naruto concluded by grabbing Sasuke and Karin with chakra arms and dashing back into the crater. "We'll steer clear as you do your stuff!"

"Yeah… I feel fucking incredible!" Suigetsu pumped his fists, and then ran close to one of the dead tree roots, pointing toward the sky with both index fingers.

 _Let's see how big the bullet's going to be…_

At that thought, Suigetsu poured as much chakra as he could through his fingers, forming a single water bullet overtop his head. Steadily it grew, and grew, and grew some more, until at last the bullet was only marginally smaller than the Super Water Prison he used to encase Black Zetsu in water the previous day.

 _It's not going to get bigger than this… but this is big enough! I used a lake to make something of this size, so this is about the size I need it to be!_

Suigetsu then split apart his fingers, keeping the water bullet sustained in the air with his left finger as he aimed for the centre of it with his right. He used his right finger to form a smaller bullet with the red chakra that enveloped him, the bullet still large enough to fit his hand in.

" _ **Water Style: Massive Life-Giving Finger Gun Jutsu!**_ "

Suigetsu shot the bullet of red chakra into the centre of the larger bullet, where it remained until Suigetsu snapped his left fingers, prompting the massive water bullet to explode. Various clusters of water flew into the tree roots as if guided to those locations by a magnetic force, and within seconds every last tree root began showing a healthier colour along with the soil surrounding them, ending with the root next to Suigetsu.

Karin jumped for joy several times. "Wow, Suigetsu… the land's healthy again! That was so cool!"

"It was nothing special." Suigetsu confidently remarked as he turned around and headed for the crater, eyes closed to shield them from the residue rain. "Kurama's chakra resonates with the Shinju, so I let it do most of the work. It gave life to it like Naruto did to that Yamato dude's Wood Style… My water was just the medium."

At that moment Suigetsu stepped foot into the crater, and Karin tightly hugged him:

"But still! Creating a bullet so big that you could fit a _tiny moon_ inside is plain badass no matter how you slice it! Naruto may have given you the _power_ to do such a thing… but the _**skill**_ was all you! Just _thinking about it_ is making me wet!"

Suigetsu giggled. "Making you _wet_ , huh?"

Karin's eyes twitched, and then she proceeded to knee Suigetsu below the belt, a certain appendage exploding with liquid on contact. Then Karin let go of Suigetsu, turned around, and crossed her arms:

"Get your mind out of the gutter!"

Sasuke quickly got in between Karin and Suigetsu to break up their quarrel. "Enough bickering," he said. Then he looked behind himself at Naruto. "You know what to do."

Naruto silently nodded and left the crater, focusing his attention on the now lively roots of the previous Shinju. Then he slowly looked up until at last he was staring at the clouds, doubt welling over him again. At that moment, his attention was called to within his own mind…

[X-X-X]

" **Why are you hesitating, Naruto?!** " Kurama shouted.

"I'm just thinking that, between how my arm is right now and just how _big_ the Shinju is, I don't think I have enough chakra to make the Shinju…"

" **Then we can just ask for more chakra from the others!** **Don't you remember? We are connected to** _ **all**_ **the Tailed Beasts!** "

"Oh yeah… let's call a meeting then!" Naruto smiled as he jumped on Kurama's head. The fox made a hand seal, and in the next several seconds all the Tailed Beasts, except for Gyuki, were present in Naruto's mind.

" **You've been calling us an awful lot lately, Kurama…** " said Shukaku.

Kurama sighed. " **This is going to be the last time for a while, I promise.** "

"Kurama's right!" Naruto added. "We won't bother you for a long time after this meeting's over!"

" **Glad to see your mind's back in your body, Naruto.** " said Matatabi.

" **So what do you want?** " Son Goku asked impatiently.

"We really need some more of your chakra right now!" Naruto explained. "If we don't make a new Chakra Fruit and offer it to Shuryo Jikan, then the world will be destroyed in a month! I'm the only one who can make it because of Six Paths Sage Mode, but I'm in no condition to do it on my own… So please, give us some more of your chakra!"

" **We can't.** " Saiken objected. " **Six Paths Sage Mode requires an** _ **equal amount of chakra**_ **from all of us except Kurama. And Gyuki passed away… Without him, we can't give you any more chakra.** "

Naruto gasped. "Really?!"

All the Tailed Beasts except Kurama nodded in unison.

"Wait a minute… Kurama! Why did you summon them in the first place if you knew they couldn't give us any more chakra?!"

Kurama winked. " **Relax.** **We may not have Gyuki, but we can acquire more of Gyuki's chakra, and the others can** _ **match**_ **that amount of chakra. I'll keep the meeting going until then. You haven't forgotten already, have you, Naruto?** "

"Oh… Oh! I remember! Leave that to me!"

And with that, Naruto's consciousness was back in the outside world.

[X-X-X]

Naruto turned back around and ran for the crater. "Sasuke!"

The Uchiha tilted his head in confusion. "What's the hold up, Naruto?"

"I need more of Gyuki's chakra!"

"I see."

Sasuke turned to face Jugo, who was standing behind him. "Jugo, give Naruto your portion of Gyuki's chakra."

Jugo stepped forward, worried. "Are you sure about this, Sasuke? We don't even know if I'm compatible with Naruto…"

"It'll be fine. For one thing, Naruto already mastered Sage Mode, so he has no problems with Natural Energy. Naruto is also used to Gyuki's chakra since he has a piece of it himself. And on top of that, your clan has Hamura's physical energy while Naruto has Hagaromo's; your chakra should be almost as easy to connect as Hinata's and mine."

"If you insist…"

Jugo nodded, then walked up to Naruto and placed his right hand on Naruto's left shoulder. While connected, Jugo released Gyuki's chakra into a red aura around himself, channeled it all into his right hand, and sent it into Naruto's body through that contact, taking himself out of Sage Mode and shrinking himself in the process.

[X-X-X]

Gyuki looked around within this new mindscape and found himself in a circle with the other Tailed Beasts, Kurama directly to his left. " **Wha…** "

" **There's no time to explain, Gyuki.** " Kurama looked to his right with a grin. " **Of course, you sat through our meeting with the** _ **Big Beast in the Sky**_ **, so you know everything anyway.** "

" **So that's the amount of chakra we need to give. Hmm…** " Kokuo thought aloud.

" **It's about the same as the amount we gave last time.** " Isobu remarked.

" **Then let's get to it!** " Choumei exclaimed. The other Tailed Beasts nodded in unison and proceeded to pass along the appropriate amount of chakra.

Kurama smiled and bowed. " **Thank you, brethren.** **Now that that's settled, before you all leave, you should know that once our mission is complete and Gyuki returns in earnest, we will not be coming back from the dead ever again… So cherish the time you have left! Farewell!** "

As Kurama finished saying goodbye, all the Tailed Beasts except Gyuki and himself left Naruto's psyche.

[X-X-X]

"I feel it!" Naruto shouted, excitedly leaping back out of the crater and focusing on the tree roots once more. "It's only twice as much as before, but I guess it'll have to do!"

After a moment of stillness to gather Natural Energy, Naruto entered Six Paths Sage Mode and put his hands in the air. "Now, Shinju… grow again!"

With Naruto's command, the roots emerged from the ground and connected, forming the base of an enormous tree. From the base then grew a stem that launched so high up that it reached beyond the clouds. Because of the height of the tree and the clouds, however, no one present could see if the new Shinju had produced a fruit or not, troubling everyone.

The trouble turned into alarm when Six Paths Sage Mode ended immediately and Naruto collapsed.

Sasuke ran to his best friend's side, the rest of Taka following close behind. "Naruto!" the Uchiha shouted.

"He made the tree, but how is he?" Suigetsu asked, looking down at the fallen Naruto.

"No…" Jugo looked down and away in shame. "He must not have been compatible…"

"That's not it." Karin calmly objected, walking past Jugo and kneeling down next to Naruto across from Sasuke. "It's faint, but I can still sense Naruto's chakra. He just needs to sleep off the exhaustion Creation of All Things caused. But that could take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days…"

"Naruto recovers quickly." Sasuke stated. "He should be awake in a matter of hours."

"What do we do in the mean time?" Suigetsu thought aloud.

"Karin, can you sense the top of the tree?" Sasuke asked. "We need to make sure the Chakra Fruit was created along with the Shinju."

"I think so, but I'll be pushing my range limit with something this huge."

Karin nonetheless stood up and made a hand seal, concentrating the full might of the _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique upward.

After a minute or so, Karin solemnly shook her head.

"So the Chakra Fruit's not atop the Shinju…" Sasuke deduced, looking down at Naruto again. _Damn it…_

Suigetsu shivered. "Does that mean all of Naruto's hard work was for a _**dud?!**_ Fuck… What are we going to do now?!"

"There's still a chance a Chakra Fruit was made!" Karin shouted. "It might be _**inside**_ the Shinju instead of atop it!"

Sasuke's eyes widened with comprehension. "That's right… The Mind's Eye of the Kagura technique can't sense chakra covered by Natural Energy!"

"Then how do we learn whether or not Naruto created a Chakra Fruit?" Jugo asked.

"We'll have to wait until Naruto wakes up. We won't be able to do it without him."

At Sasuke's command, Taka all sat down a short distance away from Naruto, waiting for the time when he would awaken.

[X-X-X]

It took around two hours for Naruto's eyes to open and his body to move once more. As he woke up, he found all of Taka sitting a few feet away from him, Jugo now back in Sage Mode despite his shrinking. Seeing Naruto stand up, the members of Taka stood up in turn.

"How did I do, guys?" Naruto asked as he looked straight up, unable to discern if he had succeeded or not.

"We don't know quite yet." said Sasuke. "Karin confirmed that the Chakra Fruit wasn't at the top of the tree, but it still might be inside it somewhere… We need your help to sense where the Chakra Fruit is, if it's there at all."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "How am I supposed to do that? My sensing range isn't anywhere near the size it needs to be to search the whole tree…" At the objection, Sasuke began smirking. "I don't see how that's funny in any way, you know!"

"Who said anything about _you_ being the one to sense the fruit, idiot?" Sasuke asked, still smirking.

"Um… _you_ were the one who said we couldn't do it without Naruto, Boss…" Suigetsu remarked.

"And I meant it. With Naruto's _assistance …_ _**Karin's**_ going to search the Shinju for the Chakra Fruit."

Karin brought her hands to her chest and gasped in shock. " _ **ME?!**_ But I can't-"

"Not at this moment, no. But with some of Naruto's chakra, I'm sure you could _change the rules_ of your technique to suit our needs."

In that instant, Karin's eyes lit:

" _Kamina…_ your plan is to boost my technique to Kamina's level! Kamina could do it because he was Asura's reincarnation… and Naruto is Asura's current reincarnation! If Naruto were to give _**me**_ chakra the way he gave it to Suigetsu then…!"

Sasuke nodded. "You'll be the second person to awaken _Yin/Yang Style: Mind's Eye of the Kagura._ "

"Then let's do it!" Karin ran right up to Naruto and put her hands out in front of him. "Give me some chakra, Naruto!"

"Sure thing!"

Naruto smiled and nodded as he entered Chakra Mode yet again, his chakra reserves restored from his sleep. The moment the transformation was complete, Naruto clapped both of Karin's hands, her right with his left and her left with his right, and upon the moment of contact Karin was enveloped in a shroud of red chakra with fox ears and claws.

But what came next would surprise Naruto, and his jaw dropped in tandem with the shock:

"Huh?!"

The shroud of red chakra was being absorbed by Karin's body. And as Karin's body was absorbing the red chakra, it started slimming down, her waist-length red hair shrinking to the point it was just beneath her shoulders and her breasts reducing in size to the point one was not sure whether or not they were still there. Meanwhile, her sweater-dress and sandal-boots appeared to loosen on her.

"Did Karin… just get younger?" Jugo thought aloud in response to the spectacle.

Sasuke shook his head. "That's not quite correct. I think it's more accurate to say _her getting older has been undone._ "

"You mean _Samsara of Heavenly Life?!_ " Naruto inferred. "Nagato de-aged when he absorbed some of Gyuki's chakra during his fight with me and Uncle B… Did giving Karin Kurama's chakra de-age her the same way, Sasuke?!"

"That makes sense, I guess…"

Sasuke looked down at his own body with a frown. Naruto responded to this by holding his left hand out:

"You want to get younger too?"

"I'll pass. For one thing, it might only work for the Uzumaki clan because their life force is already extraordinarily high; Obito absorbed some Tailed Beast chakra from Madara and it didn't make him any younger. And besides, my body might not be able to handle A's training if I go back to my former size…"

"Whatever floats your boat."

Naruto pulled back his hand and turned to face Karin once more. "So how do you feel, Karin? Can you sense the Chakra Fruit inside the… Karin?!"

At that moment, Naruto noticed that Karin had fallen to the ground, unconscious.

[X-X-X]

After several minutes, Karin recovered. What welcomed her back were three startled faces and a puddle.

"What's happened?" Karin asked, just as confused as everyone else was.

"You absorbed my chakra and then you passed out!" said Naruto.

"Oh… That's no big deal. Pretty sure I improved my technique! Hold on…" Karin paused as she noticed that her clothes were looser than before and her hair didn't tickle the small of her back.

"Absorbing that chakra also reversed the cost of _Samsara of Heavenly Life._ " Sasuke added.

Karin smiled. "Sweet!" She then focused her gaze on the puddle. "What happened to Suigetsu?"

"Those _boobs…_ " Suigetsu said as he solidified, hunched over and not quite recovered from Karin's sudden transformation. "Those soft, round, well-defined _boobs…_ They're going to take _years_ to grow back…"

Without any warning, Karin suddenly ran up to Suigetsu and slapped him across the face. The Hozuki was too dejected to bother liquefying.

"Get a grip, would you?!" Karin shouted. "It's not all bad!"

Suigetsu looked up to meet Karin's eyes. "Huh?"

"If I grow naturally, they might get even _bigger._ " Karin remarked with a wink as she placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.

"Now that you mention it… you're right, Karin!"

Suigetsu swiftly hugged Karin as tightly as he could. "The future ain't set in stone, after all… Sorry for fretting over nothing!"

Karin returned Suigetsu's hug and lightly kissed him on the lips.

"Apology accepted."

Karin promptly let Suigetsu go and focused on the Shinju, intent on using her new and improved _Ying/Yang Style: Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique.

"Just as I thought!" Karin shouted, pointing up at the Shinju. "There's another copy of Kurama's chakra, a _Chakra Fruit_ , about halfway up the tree and smack dab in the middle of the trunk!"

"Incredible…" said Jugo.

Meanwhile, Naruto's eyes lit with wonder, Sasuke smirked, and Suigetsu started to drool. Karin responded by giving them a triumphant bow:

"All in a day's work for the Greatest Sensor Ninja in the World!"

Karin then stood upright and faced Sasuke. "Now that we know, how do we get at the Chakra Fruit?" she asked.

"Naruto could cut the Shinju down, but then we wouldn't be able to present it to Shuryo Jikan, so that's out of the question. How do we remove the Chakra Fruit without damaging the structural integrity of the Shinju? Hn…"

"I have an idea!" Suigetsu interjected.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"What if we _**stab**_ the Shinju? Stabbing with a sword is more lethal than a slash, but it does _less overall damage_ to the body, because all the force is concentrated in a small area. We could stab the Shinju in such a way that we pierce the Chakra Fruit and pull it out with the blade!"

"There's a problem." Sasuke objected. "I might be able to pierce a hole through the Shinju with a Susano'o arrow, but with the amount of power needed to penetrate through the bark I can't guarantee the Chakra Fruit won't be destroyed in the process."

"Then we just got to penetrate it at its weakest point, so we use as little force as possible."

"And what weak point would _that_ be, Suigetsu?" Karin asked, her brows narrow.

"The stem, maybe?" Jugo proposed. "If the Chakra Fruit is indeed right in the centre of the Shinju, then it must be inside the stem. If the blade travels along the stem from its exit point at the very top down to the Chakra Fruit and back…"

"Then we'd be able to stab the Chakra Fruit without having to destroy the bark of the Shinju!" Suigetsu inferred. "Good thinking, Jugo!"

Naruto shook his head. "Not so fast! The plan's fine and all, but where are we going to get a sharp object long enough to travel half the height of the Shinju?! And on top of that, how is anyone going to survive long enough to do it?! The top of the Shinju is above the clouds; there's practically no air that high up!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "That's it… Karin and I will head to the top of the Shinju. Karin can use her Adamantine Sealing Chains to pull the Chakra Fruit out, and my Susano'o will give her the protection she needs from the air."

"Oh no, you don't!" Karin objected. "You'll have to be _flying_ with Susano'o for quite a long time just to reach the top! We both know why you can't do that, Sasuke!"

"If you're with me, it'll be okay. When Susano'o is about to run out, heal me so I can keep it up longer. I'm sure of it… we can make it to the top with only one refill."

"Then how do you plan to keep Susano'o going while I'm pulling the Chakra Fruit out?"

"As for that…"

Sasuke smirked and bit his thumb, then pressed his hand to the ground, summoning Odaka. "We'll fly up as high as we can on Odaka first to minimize my time in Susano'o."

Karin nodded and approached Odaka. "… okay, let's do it."

"Jugo, fly with us so you can tell us when Odaka can't tolerate the air anymore." Sasuke commanded. Jugo silently nodded and readied his wings, preparing to take off at the same time as Odaka.

"Come back safely, you two!" Naruto cheered as Sasuke hopped in to the pilot's seat and Karin followed into shotgun. He and Suigetsu waved as Odaka took off with Jugo beside her for Taka's final destination.


	78. Chapter 77: Light in the Darkness

Sasuke was flying Odaka in counter-clockwise circles around the Shinju - rising in altitude with every lap – with Karin sitting beside him. Jugo was in his smaller form, flying alongside the giant hawk and keeping pace with her. This continued until at last Sasuke and Karin noticed a difficulty breathing and Jugo signalled that Odaka couldn't fly any higher. Without a moment to spare, Sasuke cancelled Odaka's summon and unleashed Susano'o in its complete form, giving himself and Karin protection from the weak air. Then he faced Jugo, who was inside Susano'o's head with them:

"Thank you, Jugo. We'll handle the rest from here."

Jugo looked down. "Then I'm heading back to the ground. Take care, Sasuke. You too, Karin."

Once he was finished with his goodbyes, Jugo shot himself out of Susano'o downward as fast as he could. In turn, Sasuke focused his energy upward and continued his and Karin's ascent to the summit of the Shinju, flying straight up at full speed.

This flight proceeded without incident for thirty minutes until at last Susano'o began to crumble away and Sasuke started breathing heavily. Sasuke opened his mouth as wide as he could make it in preparation for what followed:

"Karin, now!"

"Got it!"

Karin lifted her right sleeve with her left hand and put her exposed forearm up to Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke clamped down on Karin's arm, and within seconds his entire body was rejuvenated, and Susano'o was quickly reformed.

 _Thirty minutes… that's my time limit._ Sasuke thought as he kept the ascent going. _How far up are we?_

Sasuke would find the answer to his question in the next few moments, when his entire field of vision became dominated by a white cloud. After another second, Susano'o completely passed by the clouds, and under a minute later, it flew past the flower atop the Shinju. The moment Sasuke saw himself rise above the Shinju he stopped Susano'o's flight and turned to face it.

"Above the clouds… we're so high up!" Karin shouted as she tried looking down. "If these clouds weren't in the way I bet we could see the Hidden Leaf Village and the Hidden Whirlpool Village from here!"

"We're not here to sight-see. We only have thirty minutes or so before Susano'o peters out again and we'll be exposed to the lack of oxygen in the air. Then it's only matter of time before we die by asphyxiation or free-fall…"

"About that…" Karin smirked, "I don't quite know why, but it didn't feel like I lost much chakra healing you. I'm good for at least one more round!"

"Maybe Naruto's chakra permanently increased your own reserves… Anyway, let's cut this flower off so you can send your chains through the stem."

And with that, Sasuke flew towards the Shinju's flower and ignited the Totsuka Blade with black flames. With one horizontal slice, the Totsuka Blade cut the bud clean off the top of the Shinju, the black flames burning it to cinders before it fell below the clouds. What remained at the summit was a flat, circular foothold with a relatively small - yet still large enough for Sasuke and Karin to fit inside - hole in the centre. Sasuke and Karin silently nodded to each other as Susano'o was positioned so that it peered into the hole, lined up so that Sasuke and Karin were directly above it.

"Time to pluck you out, new Chakra Fruit!"

A golden chain as wide as Karin's own head burst out from her abdomen and headed its way straight down into the hole. Karin pushed the chain as far as she could, and within a few minutes she made contact with her target.

"We're connected!"

As soon as Karin finished screaming, she started to retract her chain with the Chakra Fruit on the other end, pulling it up through the stem. After another several minutes, the source of the Light of Life emerged from within the tree, and before Karin could blink the chain finished retracting and the Light of Life was now held in Karin's arms.

Sasuke took the opportunity to land on the summit of the Shinju and reduce Susano'o to the form he used to release Nagato, to better conserve chakra and give them more time. He and Karin were now standing atop the Shinju with their own feet. He looked upon the object in Karin's possession:

"So that's the Light of Life… it's smaller than I thought."

The object was only slightly larger than Karin's torso and light enough for Karin to lift without any visible effort. Furthermore, rather than be a fruit as Sasuke anticipated, it was in the shape of a seed, mostly gold but with a rainbow where it reflected the sun's rays.

"Yeah… it's more like a Chakra _Seed_ than a Chakra _Fruit…_ " said Karin.

"Naruto probably didn't have enough chakra to create a fully-mature Shinju, so it wound up being a _partially_ -mature Shinju. That must be why the Light of Life is a Chakra _Seed_ instead…"

A glint of lust shone in Karin's eyes. "Whatever the reason is, this Chakra Seed is so shiny and pretty! If we didn't have to leave it here for Shuryo Jikan, then I would _**totally**_ carve it up and forge a crown out of it!"

"Come on, Karin…" Sasuke pointed to the tree beneath them. "Leave the Chakra Seed here and let's head back down. One more bite should be enough to bring us to the ground safely."

" **Not yet…** "

Neither Sasuke nor Karin was able to discern a source for this new demonic voice. Karin gasped and dropped the Chakra Seed on instinct, and moments later the afternoon sky turned pitch black before Sasuke's eyes.

[X-X-X]

When Jugo landed, he saw that Naruto and Suigetsu were shaking with anticipation and worry.

"We can't see Sasuke and Karin anymore… you have any idea how they're doing?" Suigetsu asked.

"Everything's going as planned." Jugo reassured with a smile. His expression, however, quickly soured:

"But I'm afraid they might not have enough chakra to make it _back_ all the way. We need to be able to catch them if they fall…"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You can do that, can't you? You can totally fly in Sage Mode just like you did now!"

"No… I'm too small to fly and carry others at the same time. I'd need to grow back to normal size… And there's no flesh I can use…"

Naruto's eyes widened. "Aha! There's a chance you might grow again if I _give you Gyuki's chakra back!_ Giving me Gyuki's chakra shrank you, so the _**opposite**_ should happen the other way around!"

Suigetsu's jaw dropped. "You serious?!"

"It's worth a shot." Jugo nodded.

"Besides, it'd defeat the purpose of Uncle B seeing you if you don't have Gyuki with you anymore…" said Naruto.

Jugo raised an eyebrow. "Killer B wants to see me?"

"You're all he has left to remember Gyuki until he comes back. I guess that extends to Turtle Island now too…"

"I see… I think I can understand how he's feeling."

Naruto cracked his knuckles and entered Chakra Mode at once. "Then let's do this! Have fun with Jugo, Gyuki!"

Naruto firmly shook Jugo's left hand with his own, Jugo being enveloped in red chakra just as Suigetsu and Karin were a short while ago. This shroud, however, had bull horns rather than fox ears, and within seconds the shroud was absorbed into Jugo's body, making it grow back to normal size as Naruto predicted.

Jugo bowed. "Thank you, Naruto."

"Don't mention it!"

Naruto looked back up at the Shinju. "Just make sure Sasuke and Karin don't plummet to their deaths, alright?"

Suddenly, Naruto began sweating bullets:

"Oh no!"

"What's the matter, Naruto?!" Suigetsu asked in panic.

"The sky is angry! I think… _**Shuryo Jikan is here!**_ "

Jugo froze with dread and Suigetsu turned into a puddle on reflex.

[X-X-X]

"You're not supposed to come for another month." Sasuke said as he looked skyward in the endless darkness. "Why are you here, Shuryo Jikan?"

" **I have…** **I have come to make an announcement regarding Jashin Uzumaki's punishment. Since his soul has become one with me, I have learned from his memories that he was incapable of keeping his end of the deal for one hundred years.** "

"You mean his time in the Shinigami's dimension… What about it?"

" **It is simply not fair to punish the world in one month given Jashin's absence.** **The conditions of his contract were '** _ **bring the Uzumaki clan to extinction or the world is destroyed in 150 years**_ **'. 100 of those years did** _ **not**_ **include Jashin Uzumaki as a member of your planet's population… so I am willing to give the planet a century's extension. You have** **100 more** **years** **to destroy all traces of the Uzumaki clan before I will punish all living things in this world for consuming the Light of Life.** "

"What?! We just made a new Light of Life! It's at Karin's feet as we speak! Kaguya's contract has been paid in full! The God of Life told us you'd leave us alone if we did that!"

" **That is** _ **not**_ **the Light of Life. Not the one Kaguya Otsutsuki stole from this world.** **The Light of Life was divided into the Tailed Beasts… Unless all traces of their beings are returned here, I shall not accept any offerings regarding the Light of Life!** "

"No…"

Sasuke slowly turned to Karin, overwhelmed with horror. To his surprise, Karin wasn't showing nearly as much distress - only confusion - and she stayed silent through Shuryo Jikan's entire announcement. It occurred to Sasuke, then, that it might not have been speaking to her.

"Did you tell Karin any of this?!"

" **No… this news concerns only you.** **After all, you shall be the one to bring the Uzumaki clan to extinction personally.** "

"Excuse me?" Sasuke's voice grew weaker, his fear slowly turning to despair.

" **You heard right.** **I told Black Zetsu to destroy Hagaromo Otsutsuki's entire lineage. You can annul that contract and return to Jashin's, allowing yourself to be spared, so long as you kill the remaining members of the Uzumaki clan personally. Death will be their punishment, while closing the curtain on the Uzumaki will be** _ **yours.**_ "

"That's…" Sasuke held his head in his hand, trying futilely to make his mind stop trembling in terror. "I… I…"

" **Do you need any assistance in the matter?** "

Sasuke immediately knew what Shuryo Jikan meant and responded accordingly:

"No… I don't need any help from you. With the power of the Rinnegan, I could become immortal on my own. I'd just need the Tailed Beasts' chakra and Jugo's help to give myself an equivalent of Six Paths Sage Mode… Then I'd make myself a new body with Creation of All Things, and place my soul in it with the Reverse Human Path… Orochimaru dedicated his life's work to finding immortality… to think the solution was so obvious… And I have experience attacking the people that I care about. I could _very easily_ do it again if I wanted to. I've already _become_ the monster you'd try to make me into…"

Sasuke knew what he said was the truth, but he didn't mean a word of it. He had no intention of living forever, and he had no idea whether he was still capable of betraying his comrades; he didn't want to. The only reason he said those words was to convince Shuryo Jikan not to give him any Curse Energy; he knew that if he did take it, then Shuryo Jikan would take possession of his soul for eternity, and what would happen if that came to pass frightened him.

" **Suit yourself.** " Shuryo Jikan replied. " **I will see your results in 100 years.** "

And with that, the unending darkness that surrounded Sasuke disappeared, leaving something far worse in its place.

Sasuke broke into tears and cupped Karin's head with his hand, pulling her head close to his chest and hugging her as tightly as he could. "Karin… I'm sorry! I don't know what to do! You and Naruto… I wanted to change because of you… From the very start of our journey together, I wanted to become someone that would never have to sever his bonds again… and this is how it ends?! I have to kill the both of you _**myself**_ or the whole world is destroyed?! I stopped A from doing it because I believed there was another way… only to learn there _isn't one…_ I'm sorry… so sorry! I couldn't save Naruto… I couldn't stop myself from _**sacrificing**_ you again, regardless of my choice…"

Karin finally spoke up for the first time since Shuryo Jikan's arrival:

"Quit the sappy act, would you?!"

Karin slapped both of Sasuke's cheeks at once. Then she wiped Sasuke's tears away with her thumbs and looked up into his eyes, smiling. "You are _**not**_ the kind of guy who looks good when he's crying."

"Karin?" Sasuke looked down to meet Karin's eyes, stunned speechless by her apparent happiness despite the situation. "How… how can you be smiling at a time like this? I destroy your clan myself or I let the world be destroyed… Either way, _my choice_ will lead directly to _your death…_ It's over…"

"No it's not!" Karin objected, still exuding confidence. Sasuke raised an eyebrow in confusion, still wracked with despair. "Did you think about what I've been doing at all this whole time?!"

"You _have_ been uncharacteristically quiet… Why… is that?"

"It's because I noticed something _wrong_ and I was afraid of how Shuryo Jikan might react! Remember how Turtle Island said that Shuryo Jikan's destructive instinct is evenly spaced apart? How there's no points with _more concentration than any other?_ Well I sensed a spot that was _**more evil than all the rest!**_ "

"You can sense Shuryo Jikan? I thought Turtle Island said that only Naruto and I could perceive it…"

"You had Naruto give me some of Kurama's chakra! That comes with his ability to detect malicious intent! So I can sense it now too!"

"Right… At any rate, you're saying there's a point that's more evil than all the rest? That shouldn't be _possible…_ "

"But it _**was!**_ And until we figure out _**why**_ this contradiction exists, we haven't ended anything!"

"Why this contradiction exists, huh…"

Sasuke reflected on everything he learned about Shuryo Jikan, and after a few seconds he made a faint smirk:

"That isn't the only contradiction, Karin."

"What do you mean?"

"Black Zetsu's meeting with Shuryo Jikan _shouldn't have happened at all._ The only thing that's supposed to wake Shuryo Jikan from its slumber is the removal of the Light of Life. But instead of doing that, Shuryo Jikan contacted Black Zetsu in response to Jashin's death."

"Maybe Shuryo Jikan is aware of when Curse Energy returns to it?"

"If that were true, then it would have reacted when _the Purge_ happened. Hundreds of souls Shuryo Jikan _didn't even make contracts with_ becoming a part of it? That would have certainly piqued its curiosity _far_ more than _Jashin's_ death. _**If**_ Shuryo Jikan were conscious for it, that is."

"So Shuryo Jikan had to have slept through the Purge. Yet Jashin's death still prompted Shuryo Jikan to act…"

 _No way…_

Sasuke's eyes suddenly lit with epiphany.

"Sasuke? Did you figure it out?" Karin asked.

"I'm not sure… but at least we have a third option after all." Sasuke smiled as he kneeled down and placed his hand on the Chakra Seed. "We're going to wake Shuryo Jikan up."

"Don't tell me… you're going to absorb the Chakra Seed yourself!"

Sasuke silently nodded.

"What will that accomplish?!"

"It's going to lure Shuryo Jikan back here, demanding I be punished. That's when I'm going to shoot the point of concentrated evil with all the Seed's chakra through the Asura Path. I'm going to need you to aim my shot… and heal me the _instant_ I release it all. If I'm right I'm going to be fresh out of chakra myself if I do it, and if that happens the Susano'o surrounding us will disappear."

"Alright."

Karin nodded resolutely and positioned herself right behind Sasuke. She lifted her left sleeve, placed her left arm up to Sasuke's mouth, and held Sasuke's arm at the elbow with her right hand. In this position, she could aim Sasuke's shot and heal him in rapid succession. "For better or for worse… let's end this together."

"Yeah…"

Sasuke calmed himself, preparing for the storm that was about to unfold. He knew that this was his only chance at averting a disastrous future. If he missed, then Shuryo Jikan would never come back to this planet, even if Naruto made another fruit and Sasuke absorbed it again. Sasuke understood this fact now, but even so, he felt calm. Karin's presence at his back relaxed him, reassured him that the world could be saved without having to make any more sacrifices. With Karin's help, Sasuke already performed one miracle; as long as she was with him, Sasuke could perform another.

"It's time to put this curse to rest…" Sasuke said under his breath as he absorbed the Chakra Seed with his hand. As Sasuke expected, the first change he felt was his forehead opening up, no doubt producing a Rinne Sharingan just as Kaguya acquired from eating the Chakra Fruit a millennium ago. Seconds later, he began hearing the same warning on repeat:

 _You will pay for extinguishing the Light of Life from the world._

This continued until two minutes later, when the sky turned black in Sasuke's eyes once more. At that moment Sasuke and Karin stood up together, Sasuke turning his hand into a cannon and Karin sensing for the point of concentrated evil she sensed earlier. The moment she found it, Karin jerked Sasuke's arm above them and twenty degrees to their right:

"There!"

" _ **Asura Path: Light of Life Launcher!**_ "

Sasuke channeled the entire might of the Chakra Seed into his hand, and then shot the energy out in a single shining gold bullet leaving a rainbow trail in its wake. It traveled straight in that direction until at last it reached the point of concentrated evil.

"Now!" Karin shouted.

"It's over… _**Jashin!**_ "

Sasuke returned his hand to normal and detonated the Chakra Seed, the concentrated chakra bursting out in an explosion of golden and rainbow light. The impact made the concentrated point of evil disappear from Karin's sensing range. In that same moment, Sasuke opened his mouth and bit on Karin's left arm while the Rinne Sharingan in his forehead closed forever. Susano'o disappeared for a brief moment before it manifested once more, protecting Sasuke and Karin from the lack of air yet again.

Karin pulled her arm out of Sasuke's mouth and rolled down her sleeve once she was finished healing him. "So that point of concentrated evil was _Jashin?_ "

"I figured it out when you said that ' _Jashin's death prompted Shuryo Jikan to act_ ' _._ How could Shuryo Jikan act because of Jashin if it slept through his death?"

"Jashin must have taken over Shuryo Jikan's body _from the inside_ and impersonated it during its slumber! The one that demanded Black Zetsu kill all of Hagaromo's descendants wasn't Shuryo Jikan at all: it was _**Jashin!**_ He knowingly increased the number of targets to _have you killed too_ , Sasuke! He wanted to _avenge himself_ and tried manipulating Black Zetsu to do it!"

"And when that failed, he contacted me directly. He came here as soon as a new Light of Life was present, which Shuryo Jikan could detect to begin with, and he knew we would be at the top because he was _spying on us through Jugo's Curse Energy_ the same way he knew where Black Zetsu was when he was merged with the planet. Then he tried forcing me into a position where I had to kill my comrades… because that's what I told him _I'd never do_ when he was in Fuzai's body. Being forced on a path where I had to take back my words would have been even _worse_ than death…"

Karin giggled. "Damn… and here I thought we were through with him for good after he blew himself up!"

" **So that is what had transpired during my slumber…** **I must thank you, Sasuke Uchiha, Karin Uzumaki the Second, for freeing me from Jashin Uzumaki's clutches.** "

The same voice spoke to Sasuke once more, but this time Sasuke was sure it was someone else entirely:

"So it really is you, Shuryo Jikan?"

" **Do not call me that.** **That is the name Jashin imagined for me. I do not wish to be associated with it.** "

"You're the one who figured it out, Sasuke!" Karin cheerfully pointed out. "The God of Rebirth's new name is up to you!"

"If that's the case… I'll call you _Yamikami._ Darkness God… I think it fits."

" **That is acceptable.** **To think that a mere mortal could possess a soul so evil that their natural destructive instinct eclipsed even my own…** "

"Are you talking about Jashin?" Karin asked.

" **Yes…** **I believe that is why his soul returned to me to begin with. I was** _ **sure**_ **I did** **not** **give Jashin enough of myself to return upon death…** "

"Turtle Island _did_ say that humans react to gods' powers in ways even the divine can't predict…" Sasuke recalled. "I suppose that when you gave Jashin Curse Energy, the destructive instinct of his _own_ heart resonated with it, making it stronger than you intended it to be…The Tailed Beasts are more powerful when they're inside Jinchuriki because of a similar principle."

Karin gasped. " _That's_ why you never told Jashin about the third aspect of Curse Energy?! You never meant to include it?!"

" **Correct.** **Rather than my energy corrupting Jashin, Jashin seemed to corrupt** _ **my**_ **energy instead… But thanks to you, I have been purified. Not a single trace of mortal souls remains within me.** "

"Then we got rid of the victims of the Purge along with Jashin!" Karin inferred, her eyes widening.

" **It seems as though the Light of Life you fed me has opened a portal to the Pure World.** **That means that for all the souls that have been infected with my energy without my knowledge, while they will undoubtedly come to me when they die, they will be able to rest in peace all the same. I must warn the God of Death to remain vigilant for any souls that pass through me during my slumber…** "

Karin raised her hands to her chest in sympathy. "Poor Shinigami… It gets stuck with sorting out the afterlife _constantly_ while you get to slack off for centuries at a time!"

"No wonder it was so grumpy when it spoke to me…" Sasuke remarked.

" **At any rate, it is time I take my leave.** " Yamikami stated.

"Hold on!" Sasuke objected. "What about the contracts? Kaguya never gave the Chakra Fruit back, and some members of the Uzumaki clan are still alive!"

" **You need not worry about them.** **As far as I am concerned, you paid Kaguya Otsutsuki's price when you fed me the Light of Life, and since Jashin Uzumaki clearly did not care to uphold his end of the deal, I see no point in upholding mine. You are free… for now. However, if I wake to find that your Light of Life has been extinguished** _ **again…**_ **I will not hesitate to destroy you all. Your planet has given me** **far** **too many headaches for one millennium. If you want to avoid a** _ **Ceremonial Killing on a planetary scale**_ **, then you best heed my warning.** "

Sasuke smiled and waved goodbye. "Thank you, Yamikami."

Karin waved in tandem. "Sleep tight! Don't let Jashin bite!"

In the midst of their waving, the sky returned to its normal shade of blue and the malicious intent was gone, for good this time.

Karin hugged Sasuke from behind. "We need to get going too! We have to re-enter breathable air before Susano'o runs out. I can't guarantee I can heal you again!"

Susano'o grew to its complete, winged form once more, having just enough room on the summit of the Shinju to stand. "Don't let go, Karin…" Sasuke said.

"What kind of silly order is that? I'm not the kind of lady that leaves a brother behind, ever! You don't need to _**tell me**_ not to let go, idiot!"

"Yeah… you're right about that." Susano'o leaped off the Shinju and began flying down the length of the tree at full speed. "You're not my sidekick anymore."

Karin suddenly started blushing:

"What do you mean by _**that**_ , Sasuke?!"

"I mean that we're partners. _Equals._ Hero and heroine. You have accomplishments of your own to be proud of, and I depend on you just as much as you depend on me. I might be your hero… but you're _my_ hero too. _That's_ what I mean."

Karin closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "You're so _stupid_ … After all this hard work helping each other with Sakura and Suigetsu, here you are making me fall in love with you all over again. I'll have to try _twice as hard_ not to be a cheating bitch _**now…**_ "

"You can do it. You can do _anything._ "

"Just shut up... Your flattery is not helping…"

"Fine. Not another word out of me until we see Suigetsu again."

"Good." Karin frowned in disgust. "Hmph!"

After that conversation ended the flight seemed to remain in dead, awkward silence. But after five minutes, Sasuke and Karin opened their mouths and laughed together in perfect harmony.


	79. Chapter 78: The Day of Divergence

It had been just over thirty minutes since Naruto sensed the God of Rebirth arrive and leave twice in rapid succession. Suigetsu and Naruto sat down in boredom beside each other while Jugo kept his vigilance, looking for any sign of Sasuke and Karin's return.

"They're taking an _awful_ long time to get down from the top of that tree…" Suigetsu bemoaned. "Damn it… those scumbags! I bet Karin and the boss are taking advantage of their alone time to get dirty!"

"No way!" Naruto objected. "Sasuke wouldn't dare cheat on Sakura-chan! And have a little faith in your girlfriend too, while you're at it!"

"Faith, huh…"

Suigetsu suddenly began laughing:

"You know, Naruto… Sasuke told me that Karin's more like _you_ than his girl… With all the times we've argued recently, I think I'm starting to believe it!"

"What's… _**that**_ supposed to mean?!"

Suigetsu smirked. "Exactly what I said."

"I don't get it…"

"It's Sasuke and Karin!" Jugo interjected, spreading his wings. "They're falling!"

Without waiting for a reply, Jugo launched himself into the air straight in the direction of his teammates. During his flight, he widened both his hands in anticipation of what lay ahead. Suigetsu and Naruto stood up and looked on as Jugo approached the falling pair. The Snake Sage caught Sasuke and Karin as they fell, Sasuke in his left hand and Karin in his right, and soon he descended to the ground, helping them stand up once more.

"Thanks, Jugo…" Karin said. "We couldn't quite make it to safe air before Susano'o ran out, so we had to… hold our breath…"

"Karin!" Suigetsu shouted, running up to the rest of Taka alongside Naruto.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted in turn. When they arrived, Suigetsu offered support to help Karin walk, as Naruto did for Sasuke.

"What happened up there?" Jugo asked, walking in between them. "Naruto sensed Shuryo Jikan come and go _twice…_ "

Sasuke took a few heavy breaths before responding. "Quite a bit… We'll explain on the way back to the Hidden Leaf… For now though…"

Sasuke promptly removed his backpack and took out the scroll of hints, and then crossed out the final name on the list, _Twin Gods of Death_ :

"Taka… our mission is finally over."

[X-X-X]

Two days later, inside a room at the Hidden Leaf Hospital…

"… Excuse me!"

Kabuto turned around to face the source of the voice that spoke to him and found that it was Sakura. "What is it, Sakura?" he asked.

Sakura quickly looked behind herself, shut the hospital room door when no one was nearby, then swiftly closed the windows and finally took a seat:

"It's about something top-secret… can't have just anyone overhearing us. On the way to the Hidden Whirlpool Village, Sasuke told me about what happened to Itachi, and I noticed something… strange about it, for lack of a better word."

Kabuto stroked his chin in confusion. "And you're telling me rather than Lord Hokage or Sasuke because…"

"It concerns you more than anyone. Sasuke said that Itachi destroyed Shisui's eye to keep you from getting your hands on his DNA. But you were the medical ninja presiding over the operation to imbue Shin's right arm with Shisui's and Lord Hashirama's DNA. Why didn't you just _use the DNA you acquired from that procedure_ to revive Shisui for the war, instead of bothering to look for his eyes?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. If I ever had the chance to acquire Shisui Uchiha's DNA, I would havetaken it. And I don't remember ever operating on Shin in the way you described; just transplanting organs after the Shin Shadow Clone Jutsu."

"You really don't remember?"

"It must not have happened at all. There's no way I could have possibly forgotten such an event… Then again, my memory _was_ tampered with more than once. I might still be under the effects of some jutsu… But one so subtle that not even Lord Orochimaru or Karin ever noticed it? That's hard to believe…"

Sakura gasped. "Wait… there is such a jutsu! Koto Amatsukami! Danzo must have made you dispose of Shisui's DNA and forget the procedureusing Shisui's own technique! That's how Orochimaru never noticed, and even if he figured it out, he couldn't dispel it… And Karin didn't sense your chakra until _after_ the procedure, so she couldn't tell the difference!"

"That makes an astonishing amount of sense…" Kabuto pushed up his glasses, contemplating. "I suppose that memory will be a part of myself I can never get back. Both of Shisui's eyes are destroyed, and I don't plan on sacrificing anyone for Impure World Resurrection ever again, assuming Shisui's DNA could still be salvaged. For all we know, Black Zetsu might have eaten Shin's corpse already and Shisui's arm with it…"

In response to Kabuto's last statement, Sakura grinned:

"I never told you Shin had Shisui's arm."

Kabuto looked out the window and smiled. "It seems like I _am_ getting my memory back after all… How intriguing… What's this?!"

Sakura rushed to the bespectacled medic's side upon hearing his voice suddenly shift to shock. "Are you alright, Kabuto?!" she asked.

"I'm fine. I just sensed Sasuke and the others… they're back. But they're coming in from the _North_ entrance."

"Turtle Island's to the South though, isn't it?"

"There's no time. Go meet up with them, Sakura. I'll inform Lord Hokage."

"Cha!"

Sakura excitedly turned around, then quickly opened the door and rushed out of the hospital room.

[X-X-X]

Naruto was gazing upon the Hidden Leaf Village Gate as it came in to view. "Finally! Home sweet home!" he shouted from his seat on Odaka.

At the same time, Sasuke commanded Odaka to descend using the reins, and within minutes they landed outside the gate. Sasuke disembarked alongside Naruto, Suigetsu, and Karin, while Jugo landed a few feet away, then Sasuke cancelled Odaka's summon before joining the rest on the walk into the village. When they entered, they found Sakura waiting for them, standing next to the bench that became their favourite spot. She excitedly waved as the five approached:

"Sasuke! Naruto! Everyone! Welcome back!"

Sasuke waved back. "Sakura."

"How's Hinata?!" Naruto asked the moment he and Taka were close to her.

Sakura clenched her fists in triumph. "Operation successful! Cha! Hinata needs some time getting used to her new leg, but she's going to make a full recovery!"

"I knew you could do it." Sasuke smirked. Sakura blushed in response.

Naruto made a wide grin. "That's wonderful! I should go see Hinata right away!"

"I should find Tenten as well…" Jugo interjected. "I hope she doesn't mind Killer B tagging along on our quest… As soon as I find the both of them I'd like to -"

"Unfortunately, your plans will have to be postponed."

Everyone recognized the interrupting voice. All but one notable exception turned their heads downward to the source of the voice. Karin, meanwhile, simply rolled her eyes as Kakashi emerged from underground next to them:

"You just _had_ to pick the most dramatic time to pop up."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "… You could sense me underground?"

Karin puffed out her chest with pride. "Naruto gave me quite the boost with his chakra! My sensing abilities are on Kamina's level, I can heal people twice a day, and my body's eighteen years young again! And since we averted the destruction of the world, I plan on living my life out to the last drop!"

"Anyway… Why can I not leave with Tenten and Killer B, Hokage?" Jugo asked.

"It's regarding Sasuke and Karin. Before you left for Mount Myoboku, I said that I would postpone judgment of their crimes until March 2nd. Well, that still stands. During the interim I will be gathering everyone who was present at the Frost Daimyo's palace the day it was destroyed to give their accounts of what happened during their trial. Sakura already gave me hers, so I have a general idea of what happened. You and Tenten are _important witnesses_ , so I can't have you leaving on a vacation of _an indeterminate length_ before the trial now, can I?"

Jugo averted his eyes. "I suppose not. Then we will have to wait until March 3rd one way or another. I still need to find Tenten and Killer B and tell them about it, though…"

"About that… Both of them, as well as Hinata, should be at the Third Training Field. Team Guy volunteered to help with Killer B's and Hinata's rehabilitation."

Jugo tilted his head. "Third Training Field? I don't know where that is…"

"I do!" Naruto raised his hand. "That's where Sasuke, Sakura-chan, and I became ninja! I'll take you there, Jugo!"

"I would appreciate it. Please lead the way."

Naruto was about to step away, but Sasuke suddenly put his arm in Naruto's path and stopped him:

"Hold on, Naruto. When you're there, make sure to tell Hinata that she and her family should come with you to the trial."

"Eh… why?"

"It's just that we promised the Frost Daimyo that the full truth would come to light. And there's something among that truth that the Hyuga clan has to know, and a certain person that the Hyuga clan should meet that will be there."

Once Sasuke was finished, he let down his arm and allowed Naruto to pass.

"I don't get it, but okay…"

Following his affirmation, Naruto promptly walked away with Jugo just behind him.

"So what will happen to us?" Karin asked, looking squarely at Kakashi. "Sasuke and I are going to be on trial, so we can't just leave either, I imagine…"

"You're right about that." Kakashi cheerfully nodded. "As you two are prisoners, you will not be allowed to leave the village, and furthermore, until the trial you will have at least one Leaf ninja supervising each of you at all times. As for who will _fill_ those roles … I leave that in Sakura's capable hands."

Sakura doubled back in shock.

" _Mine_ , Kakashi-Sensei?!"

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "You _did_ arrest them, did you not?" Sakura slowly nodded. "Then it's your responsibility that Sasuke and Karin are properly supervised until their trial and that's that."

"Oh… in that case…" Sakura faintly blushed, hesitating briefly before continuing. "I know this might come off as a conflict of interest, but I want to be responsible for Sasuke's supervision _personally._ "

"It's your choice, Sakura, not mine."

Kakashi's eye twinkled. Then he quickly furrowed his brow and turned his head:

"Any objections, Sasuke?"

"Not this time." Sasuke smiled as he proceeded to hold Sakura's left hand. "Those cuffs aren't going to put themselves on, Sakura, so get to it."

Karin impatiently stomped her feet. "What about _**me**_ , Sakura?!"

"I was thinking of having _Naruto_ look after you."

Karin's jaw dropped.

"You're going to need a place to stay, and I'm sure Naruto would love to have a roommate." Sakura added. "And you're both Uzumaki anyway, so it'd only feel right for you to live together. Of course, he won't be available today… What if you stick with me until tomorrow?"

"Hmm… Living with Naruto… that sounds fun! I'll even be able to help Naruto with _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi!_ …"

All of a sudden, Karin's mood shifted from ecstasy to shyness, holding her hands behind her back and blushing:

"Of course, I'd only agree to it if it's okay with _you_ , Suigetsu…"

At that moment, Karin's expression changed once more, this time to belligerence. She promptly shook Suigetsu, who was evidently not paying any attention to their discussion.

"Suigetsu! Are you even listening to me?!"

"Huh… Karin?" Suigetsu stroked his chin, remaining confused. "I was busy thinking about something else… Did you say something?"

"What the fuck, Suigetsu?! What could be so important that it made you ignore me? _**ME!**_ "

"It's Chojuro!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "That's right… You have to fight Chojuro now that our mission is over."

"Oh yeah…" Karin said. "You going back to the Land of Water and fighting him now?" she asked with just a tinge of disappointment. "You weren't in the Land of Frost, so you don't have to stay here until March 2nd ..."

Suigetsu sighed. "I know I'm going to regret this…"

The next moment, the Hozuki hugged Karin with both his arms, dipped his head, and pecked her on the lips.

"… but I can't just up and _**ditch you**_ when you need my help, baby! I'm going to write to Chojuro and tell him to postpone the match, and until the trial's over I'm going to stay! The swords might be important, but my friends matter even more!"

Karin relaxed herself in Suigetsu's arms. "You mean it?"

"You flirty bitch…" Suigetsu smirked as he hugged Karin tighter. "You knew I meant it the moment I said it."

"Hate to break up the atmosphere, but…" Kakashi interjected, "you still haven't answered Karin's question."

Suigetsu looked at Kakashi while still holding Karin in his arms. "It doesn't matter to me _where_ Karin lives, as long as she's happy. She says Naruto's place would be fun, so I'm fine with it too. I'm more concerned about where _I'm_ going to live…"

"You can live with me for the time being."

Everyone's jaws dropped simultaneously at Kakashi's proposition.

Suigetsu released his hold on Karin and started shivering. "Are you serious, Hokage?! You don't think that an _**ex-con**_ rooming with the _**Hokage**_ is the slightest bit inappropriate?"

"Yes, I'm serious. I'm the wielder of Kubikiribocho. Zabuza's will is engraved in that sword… I feel I have a responsibility to watch over you, all things considered. Besides, if you're living with me, then you won't need to go to the trouble of seeking me out."

"Yeah, I get it…" Suigetsu shook off his nerves and firmly gripped Kakashi's right hand with his own. "Thanks for letting me stay at your place… And you better watch your back. This shark's got you in his sights, and before you know it he'll pull you under!"

Kakashi sighed, and then waved at Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura with his left hand. "I'll need to be showing Suigetsu to his new home, now. Take care."

Sakura waved in turn with her free hand as Kakashi and Suigetsu walked off. "Bye, Kakashi-Sensei! Suigetsu!"

"So where do we go now?" Karin wondered. "I've been here a few times, but I'm still not quite sure I've got the layout of the village memorized…"

"If Sakura's okay with it, there's somewhere I'd like to go." said Sasuke. "There's still one last thing I need to do."

Sakura stroked her chin with her right hand. "What do you mean, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha turned his head to gaze into Sakura's eyes with his own, his expression softening as a faint smile creeped on to his face:

"I'd like to show you where my family lived."

[X-X-X]

And so Sasuke led Sakura, who kept her left hand firmly bonded to Sasuke's only hand, and Karin, who's left wrist Sakura grabbed with her right hand, to the location of what used to be the Uchiha Clan Compound and within it, Police Force Headquarters. When he was here last, Sasuke observed that it was not rebuilt along with the rest of the village after Nagato's attack. Sasuke expected the place to still be in ruins. But to his surprise, when he arrived he found that every last building was intact. The decorations and Uchiha clan crests that he remembered were not present, but the structures were replicated down to the exact detail. Sasuke's jaw dropped in confusion and awe:

"It was _rebuilt?!_ "

" _ **Surprise!**_ "

Sasuke and Karin were taken aback in bewilderment by Sakura's sudden exclamation.

"You _knew_ , Sakura?!" the Uchiha asked.

"After you left last month, Kakashi-Sensei, Naruto, and I decided that the piece of Lady Katsuyu wasn't good enough of a present to reflect our gratitude that you came back. So we decided to give you another present. We wanted you to know you'll _always have a home here_ , so Kakashi-Sensei arranged to rebuild your home! How is it, Sasuke?!"

"It's almost exactly as I remember it…"

Sasuke then looked to his right, at Sakura and Karin, puzzled. "It's _too_ close. No one in the village would have remembered the exact architecture…"

"That's why we enlisted the aid of someone _outside_ the village."

Sakura winked in tandem with her remark.

"That… No! …" Sasuke's eyes widened with disbelief. " _ **Tamaki!**_ She visited the compound many times back when we were kids! _**She**_ gave you the accurate blueprints!"

"When she said she was helping to reconstruct the Leaf Village in your memories, Tamaki was referring to _this._ Of course, she was under strict orders not to let _you_ know anything about it in case you met her on your travels. It would _spoil the surprise_ if you learned that we were rebuilding your home before you came back."

Sasuke smiled as he looked up, almost in tears. "Thank you so much, Sakura…"

"Hold the fuck up!" Karin interjected. "Remaking Sasuke's house is great and all, but that means, _Sakura_ , that you've been keeping a secret from Sasuke for _**a whole month!**_ Shouldn't you be pissed off, Sasuke?!"

"After keeping a much darker secret from Sakura for even longer, I can't be angry with her, Karin." Sasuke sombrely declared. Then he looked into his beloved's eyes with gratitude and wonder. "I could never be angry with _you_ , Sakura…"

Sakura rested her head on Sasuke's shoulder. "Sorry for keeping this from you. Can you forgive me for being a hypocrite this whole time, Sasuke?"

"As _somebody_ told me before - not naming names - you tried to _kill_ me and I _still love you._ Compared to that, one small secret is no trouble at all."

"I see…"

Sasuke and Sakura remained quiet for a few seconds, enjoying each other's company, until at last the silence was broken once more. Karin started tapping her feet impatiently:

"Aren't you forgetting something, Sasuke? You said you had something to do here?"

"Right…"

Sasuke nodded, resolving himself for what lay ahead. "Please, Sakura… I'm going to need my hand free."

"Alright."

Sakura let Sasuke go, keeping close watch on him with Karin at her side.

[X-X-X]

With Sakura's approval, Sasuke led them into the compound, and in particular before the Naka Shrine. The last time Sasuke was here, he had Orochimaru release the first four Hokage from the Shinigami. But now, his purpose was rather different:

 _The Shinigami… No one should have access to its power. There are no living practitioners of the Reaper Death Seal, and Orochimaru has the mask. But thanks to my parents and Kushina, the mask can only be used in front of this tablet… The tablet… It was handed to Indra by Hagaromo believing it would promote peace between his children, but Black Zetsu tampered with the text to manipulate him and by extension my entire clan. Reading it with the Rinnegan, I can see it clearly… the hatred that filled Black Zetsu's writing. Just having his memory of writing it doesn't quite capture the feeling as reading the product itself… This is the last remnant of his curse, and as Indra's final reincarnation it's up to me to make sure this curse never spreads to any of my descendants. It must never be read again._

Sasuke silently conjured a purple suit of armour around himself, drawing the Totsuka Blade from where it was overlaid with his sword of Kusanagi. With Sakura and Karin looking on, Sasuke slashed at the tablet, causing it to spiral into the gourd-hilt of the Totsuka Blade. The altar where it once stood was now empty.

"There… now the Shinigami Mask can't be used again, and no future Uchiha will be corrupted by Black Zetsu's hatred."

Sasuke sighed with relief, then dissipated Susano'o, turned around, and faced the two women that were with him.

"Future Uchiha? But you're the last one." Karin said with a grin.

"I don't plan on keeping it that way." Sasuke retorted as he walked in between them and took Sakura's hand, giving her a wry smile.

Sakura's face went completely red from embarrassment as she and Sasuke left the shrine with Karin just behind them. "Hey now! We've barely started dating, and we're both minors to boot! We need to take it slow! … I haven't even introduced you to my parents yet!"

"Then let's do that right now." Sasuke proposed. "If it's okay with you, of course."

[X-X-X]

And so time passed in relative peace for the members of Taka in the following month, until at last Sasuke and Karin's trial occurred on March 2nd. As Kakashi hoped, all the ninja present for the Battle of the Frost Daimyo's Palace managed to make it and offer their accounts. During the trial it was made clear that while Sasuke and Karin did indeed intercept messenger birds, the messages contained libel that the Frost Daimyo attempted to use to incite a Fifth Ninja World War. Jugo, Tenten, Nodan, the ninja of the Hidden Cloud Village, and even Byakko, Seiryu, Genbu, and Suzaku, also displayed their gratitude towards Sasuke and Karin for saving their lives through their actions, however unlawful they might have been, and pled for their freedom.

As Sasuke requested, Naruto and the Hyuga Main Family also attended, and were horrified to learn the full truth behind Kushina's and Hinata's kidnappings. On the bright side, however, they met Fuzai for the first time, another soul who had been impacted by the Frost Daimyo's actions, and everyone involved made at least one new friend out of the ordeal. Naruto and Hinata even took Fuzai to visit Neji's grave.

After the trial was concluded, Kakashi deliberated over all the evidence and testimony with the assistance of the Fire Daimyo and various Jonin, and ultimately came to a virtually unanimous decision: due to various extenuating circumstances and the opinions of the majority involved, the charges against Sasuke and Karin would be dropped, and they would be allowed to proceed with their lives as if their pardons were never revoked. When Kakashi read the verdict, nearly the entire crowd exploded with cheer. As the hype died down and the guests from other countries left to return to their usual duties, only A remained behind.

The following morning, at the Hidden Leaf Village Gate, stood two groups of ninja. The first included Suigetsu, Jugo, Tenten, and Killer B, those who were about to leave; the second included Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, Lee, Guy, and A, who were seeing them off.

"You're leaving already?" Karin asked Suigetsu, unable to contain her disappointment. "Sasuke and I just got acquitted! Celebrate with us!"

"I can't keep Chojuro waiting any longer! Why don't you _come with me_ and celebrate on the road?!"

"This is my home now! I need to celebrate _**here**_ , with Sasuke, Naruto, and everyone else!"

"Oh… I see how it is."

Suigetsu was about to turn his back and start walking away, when all of a sudden Karin ran up to him and caressed him as warmly and tightly as she could, making sure to look him dead in the eyes:

"Come back soon, okay, darling? You have no chance of running away from me, so don't try…"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Suigetsu moved his face closer to Karin's and locked lips with her as he returned Karin's embrace with one hand at the small of her back and the other cupping the back of her head. Karin instinctively closed her eyes and reciprocated the kiss with equal force, and after roughly ten seconds the couple broke away from the kiss simultaneously, continuing to hold each other.

"You're worth more to me than all the swords in the world, Karin…" said Suigetsu.

Her face completely red, Karin swiftly broke away from Suigetsu's hug and turned her back, arms crossed. "That goes without saying, dumbass!" she shouted, stomping back to the others. "Now get lost before you embarrass me further!"

"Fine, I will!" Suigetsu turned his back in turn and began to stomp away. "Jugo, Tenten, Final Boss! The sooner we leave the sooner I can come back and cheer up my girlfriend! Say your goodbyes already!"

"You heard him, Tenten." Jugo said as he motioned for her to part ways with Lee and Guy.

"Alright…"

Tenten shrugged and approached Lee, Guy in his wheelchair beside him. As she did so, Lee shook in place, giving it his all not to look away:

"Must we really part ways, Tenten?!"

Tenten placed her hands on Lee's shoulders, helping to steady him. "We're going to visit once in a while, you know! It's not like we'll never see each other again. You'll hold out until then. I know you will!"

"Yes… You are right! The flames of my youth will not burn out so easily, Tenten! When we meet again, I will be an even stronger man! I shall challenge Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun to battles every day, and even challenge Suigetsu-kun when he returns! The Green Beasts have a history of rivalry with the Swordsmen of the Mist, after all!"

In response to the declaration, Sasuke and Naruto, who were standing next to each other, sighed and started sweating. Suigetsu, by contrast, lifted his right hand and silently gave a thumbs-up, his back still turned. Lee was unsure, but it seemed as though Suigetsu was grinning.

"The weapon girl's had her time, now it's my time to shine!" B interjected, walking up to Naruto and raising his new left fist. "Thanks for helping me, with Gyuki. I feel like finally saying whee!"

Naruto smiled and bumped B's left fist with his right. "You'll always be family to me, Uncle B!"

"And you," B turned his gaze to Sasuke, "thanks for the arm. Be careful, though! My bro's _Iron Claw_ causes serious harm!"

" _ **B!**_ "

A's eyes were white with fury as he shouted. Sasuke, on the other hand, gave a faint smile:

"Don't worry, B. I knew what I was getting myself into when I accepted his offer of training me."

"If you say so. But don't say I didn't warn you about my bro!"

B then ended contact with Naruto and turned his back.

"Guess I'm last." Jugo stepped forward and faced Sakura. "Please take care of Sasuke."

Sakura smiled and cracked her knuckles. "Definitely. You better keep Tenten safe on your end. She's my friend too, Cha!"

"Gladly." Jugo nodded. Then he turned to the Uchiha. "Sasuke, I …"

"Jugo, and you as well, Suigetsu… I have one final order to give you as your commander. You are headed on your own separate paths, and I will no longer be there to watch over your progress and assist you on a consistent basis. But that does not mean that our bonds have been severed. No matter how far apart our paths may take us, we are still brothers at heart. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did, so my final order is this: as you build your own futures from here, never forget or try to deny the bonds you've made up until now. That's all."

Everyone remained silent for a moment to take in Sasuke's words. The first people to speak since Sasuke concluded were Suigetsu and Jugo.

"Yes sir." they said at once.

"Anyone have anything else to say?" Kakashi asked. No one replied for around ten seconds. "Well then, I suppose this means goodbye. Stay safe and have fun!"

Suigetsu, Jugo, Tenten, and B nodded in unison as they finally left. The others waved them off.

"Hmm…" A broke the silence, stroking his beard. "I still need to learn the layout of the Hidden Leaf… Find good training spots."

Lee saluted A. "Allow me to help you with that, Lord Fourth Raikage!"

"I'll help too!" Guy added. "Lee, let's show this man the _**Tour of Youth!**_ "

"Yes, Guy-Sensei!"

At that moment, A shifted his focus:

"Uchiha!"

Sasuke made an about face and stood at attention.

"Meet me here at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning for our first training session!"

Sasuke bowed his head. "Understood."

Satisfied, A motioned for Lee and Guy to begin their tour, which they promptly did by dashing into the village with A close behind them until they were quickly out of sight. Now Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi were the only ones left.

"So, Sasuke…" Sakura said as she stepped closer to the Uchiha. "Now that you're free, what do you plan to do? Aside from train with Lord A, I mean."

Sasuke closed his eyes to think. "That's a good question…"

"I have an idea." Kakashi interjected, catching everyone's attention. "The Five Great Shinobi Nations are planning the first _Alliance-Wide Chunin Exam._ If you could find a third Genin that's willing to take Sakura's place on Team Seven, I would be happy to recommend you and Naruto."

"Oh! _**I'm**_ a Genin! How about you, me, and Naruto team up, Sasuke?!" Karin asked, jumping for joy at the prospect.

"That's a great idea, Karin!" Naruto replied. "Sasuke and I are two of the strongest ninja in the world and you're the world best sensor! We'd blow the competition away!"

Sasuke shook his head. "That's the _problem_ , idiot. We're way too strong for the other Genin out there. It wouldn't be _fair_ to pit them against us. Another Chunin Exam is out of the question…"

Without entertaining the possibility further, the Uchiha returned to his contemplating.

"Maybe you can figure something out if you answer a question I have, Sasuke!" said Sakura.

"All right, Sakura. What is it?"

"When you first left on your journey, you said you wanted to see the world with the eyes you have now. Well, now that you've come back, what did you see? You said it was just an excuse, but I'm genuinely curious."

"What I saw, hn…"

Sasuke thought back on everything he'd experienced since leaving on his journey of redemption over two months ago. As he recollected the events and repeated them in his mind several times, he finally came to an answer, and from that, a new purpose:

"I saw that there is still plenty of work to do to bring about a lasting peace in this world. The Five Great Shinobi Nations might have stopped fighting, and that was a big change in the right direction, but conflicts continue to erupt everywhere, especially in the smaller countries. The Hidden Rain Village would have been destroyed by Warushizen if Taka and I hadn't arrived there when we did by pure accident. Yoshitsune was able to destroy the entire Land of Stones and turn the population into puppets without the Hidden Sand or Hidden Rock having any idea what was going on until it was too late. And the Frost Daimyo managed to bring the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Cloud on the verge of hating each other _without lifting a finger_ fourteen years ago, corrupting Neji and Fuzai in the process. Fuzai himself nearly started a Fifth Ninja World War right under the Hidden Cloud's noses using nothing but the messenger bird system… Darkness and chaos could strike at any moment from the most obscure places. I want to weed that darkness out and expose it to the light with my own hand."

"And how exactly do you plan to accomplish that?" Kakashi asked, his eyes narrowing. "Your pardon's rules haven't changed. You can't go attacking everyone you think deserve it like you used to."

"Yeah! And don't go trying to handle everything on your own either! Itachi learned that lesson the hard way!" Naruto added

"Don't discourage him, Naruto!" Sakura interjected, coming to Sasuke's defence. "Giving up on his ideals is what made Nagato fall astray, don't you remember?"

"Thanks Sakura, but they're right. You're _all_ right." Sasuke rebutted. "I'm not going to walk the same path I did before, and I'm not Big Brother or Nagato, so I won't walk their paths either. To avoid those paths, I'm going to need a partner. Someone who will stand by my side no matter what; someone who will remind me of what I believe in when I doubt myself; someone who can see the truth and lies for what they are, to make sure I focus on the correct path…"

At that moment, Sasuke spun around to face Karin and kneeled before her:

"That someone is _you_ , Karin. I can think of no one better to have at my side when I face off against the darkness of the world. I would be honoured if you would be my _partner_ in this endeavour."

"I…"

Karin hesitated for a moment, embarrassed and bewildered, but she quickly changed her tune, smiling confidently and holding out her hand. "I'd be happy to be your partner, Sasuke. Let's weed out the darkness of the world together, like we always have!"

Sasuke nodded and stood up, taking Karin's hand and firmly shaking it. "We have a lot of work ahead of us."

"That's never stopped us before." Karin retorted with a smirk. "Where to _begin_ , though…"

"I know where!" Naruto interjected, startling everyone present. " _ **Ichiraku Ramen!**_ Nothing gets your brain cooking better than good ol' ramen!"

Sasuke's eyes twitched. "Ramen? Seriously?!"

"It's a good idea!" Sakura added. "We can all eat ramen together as Team Seven for old time's sake! Karin can come too! Kakashi-Sensei's treat!"

Kakashi suddenly began sweating profusely:

"That isn't fair! … Karin wasn't a part of the deal!"

Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura chuckled in unison.

"On second thought, I'd like it." said Sasuke. "I haven't eaten at Ichiraku Ramen in over four years… I don't think I'll truly feel at home until I have a taste."

"Then let's go! To Ichiraku Ramen!"

Naruto impatiently ran inside the village first as he shouted. Sasuke, Karin and Sakura quickly followed him, with Kakashi reluctantly straddling the rear.

And so the tale of Hawk came to a close, but the tales of its members were only just beginning. Suigetsu returned to the place of Nashiken's death and settled Hiramekarei's ownership in his duel with Chojuro, his first step toward collecting all seven Swords of the Mist. Jugo, with Tenten and Killer B, embarked on his quest to visit every Senjutsu School in the world. Karin, meanwhile, remained within the Hidden Leaf to help Naruto write _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi_ , and assist Sasuke with his own path. And while Sasuke was not yet sure what form his own path would take, he resolved to uncover as many hidden truths as he could. Eventually, that resolve would lead to revolution, and it would change the very structure of the world.

All four paths would only converge again fifteen years later…

* * *

(A/N): At last, the story is over... almost. All that's left is an epilogue to see what Taka's up to fifteen years in the future. I was going to wait a week before uploading the epilogue, but it took me longer than usual to get this chapter up, so I won't bother. At any rate, since the main body and story is complete, this would be a good time to leave a review and share your thoughts. Until next time!


	80. Epilogue 1: Karasu Uzumaki

Shino looked over the twenty-seven would-be Genin seated at desks lined in rows as he spoke:

"I have a very important announcement to start today, your final day at the academy, class. Today is the day you are assigned teams of three and meet your Jonin instructors for the first time. After I announce your teams and present to you your forehead protectors, you are free to spend the rest of the day however you wish, so long as you return here alongside your team by the end of the day, at which point you will meet your new teachers. Do you have any questions before we begin?"

" _ **I do!**_ " screamed two students sitting in the back row whilst raising their hands. Shino recognized them instantly, as he would any of his students. The one on the left was Boruto Uzumaki, son of the Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, and his own teammate, Hinata. He had spiky blond hair, sky blue eyes, wore a black jacket and a white shirt underneath, and had two whiskers on each cheek. The one on the right was Karasu Uzumaki, son of Karin Uzumaki and her husband Suigetsu, two figures he came to know rather well in the last fifteen years. Karasu took mostly after his mother, with spiky red hair and red eyes to match, and wore a white jacket and a black shirt underneath.

"One at a time." Shino said. "You first, Boruto."

"Can I _not_ be on the same team as Karasu, Shino-Sensei?! He's a _no-talent loser_ that'll only keep my team down!"

"I don't want to be on Boruto's team either!" Karasu added. "He's got a record of skipping class, and he even vandalized Hokage Mountain once! Such _criminal scum_ doesn't deserve to be on my team, no matter how talented he is!"

"The team assignments are not my decision to make." Shino replied. "They are the Hokage's. Whatever the team assignments are, they are the way they are because Lord Hokage thinks the team will work well together. With this in mind, please don't take your anger out on _me…_ "

Boruto and Karasu immediately understood the meaning behind their sensei's words and responded in tandem:

"No! It can't be!"

The rest of the class gasped in reaction to their shared conclusion.

Shino sighed. "Indeed, you two _are_ on the same team, Boruto, Karasu. The academy has a tradition of putting together the highest scoring graduate with the lowest scoring one for the sake of balance. You, Boruto," he turned his body slightly to the left, "are at the top of the class, while you, Karasu," he now turned to the right, "are dead-last. Lord Hokage saw fit to keep with the tradition and put you together. But rest assured that the most important part of the team selection is _bringing about the best teams_ ; if Lord Hokage didn't think you could work well together, then he wouldn't have bothered with it."

"Like _he_ has any way of knowing who I work best with…" Boruto grumbled. "Dad's so obsessed with being Hokage that he wouldn't deviate from tradition even if it's the right thing to do…"

"You don't give your dad enough credit!" Karasu rebutted. "I'm the son of a Mist ninja and a Grass ninja! If it weren't for Lord Hokage _deviating from tradition_ , I wouldn't be able to _**study here at all!**_ "

Boruto crossed his arms in disgust. "Maybe he should have _stuck to it_ in that case…"

"Stop bickering, both of you!"

The sudden spike in their sensei's volume caused Karasu and Boruto to quiet down immediately.

"You will have plenty of time to sort your differences out for the remainder of the day." said Shino. "I'd just like to say that you might be surprised at how well you work together. I myself was placed in the same team as a classmate I despised, but over time we grew to become very close friends. The same happened to Lord Hokage and Sasuke Uchiha. I should know. I was in their class."

 _Uncle Sasuke…_ Boruto and Karasu thought in unison.

"Excuse me!"

Another student had raised her hand, this one a girl from the front row. She was Sarada Uchiha, the daughter of Sasuke Uchiha and his wife, Sakura. She shared her father's black hair and eyes, but her mother's fashion sense. Unlike either parent, however, she also wore glasses. When she raised her hand, Shino could notice Boruto and Karasu look in her direction with flushed cheeks.

"What is it, Sarada?" Shino asked.

"Shino-Sensei, you said that we would be placed in teams of _three._ Who is Boruto's and Karasu's third teammate?"

"Very good question, Sarada. While Boruto and Karasu may be the number one and dead-last, _neither_ fared all that well in the co-operation department. So a student with a high co-operation score was chosen to round out the team. Who is this student, you ask? Why, none other than _you_ , Sarada."

" _ **YES!**_ " Boruto and Karasu shouted in unison again, this time also waving their arms up in ecstasy.

"Oh no…"

Sarada shook her head in apprehension and slumped forward on her desk. _I can handle just one of them, but both of them together? Yikes…_

[X-X-X]

And so Boruto, Sarada, and Karasu officially became a team. Once Shino finished announcing the other eight teams, the entire class took turns receiving their forehead protectors, and proceeded to leave the classroom in their assigned groups of three. Karasu's team was the last one to leave.

"A _whole day_ to ourselves? What are we supposed to do for all that time?" Sarada wondered as she stroked her chin, walking in between Boruto and Karasu and slightly ahead of them in the hall.

"I know what I'm doing!" Boruto said with a snicker. "Got to give Dad a piece of my mind… I wonder how he'll take me interrupting him in the middle of a meeting…"

Karasu crossed his arms in disgust. "Unbelievable! You get the chance to see Himawari during recess and you don't take it?! We normally have class when they're outside… What kind of brother are you?!"

Boruto raised an eyebrow. "How do you know _my sister_ , loser?!"

Karasu raised his fists. "My brother's in the same class as her, scum!"

"That's enough, guys!" Sarada interjected, putting her arms up between them. "Calm down… Your arguing's going to disrupt the other classes."

Karasu and Boruto relented at once. "Alright…" they said.

Once she was satisfied her teammates weren't going to fight, Sarada let her arms fall to her sides.

"Still… I agree with Karasu on this one." said Sarada, shocking Boruto and prompting Karasu to blush. "I think that seeing your little siblings is a good idea. We could learn more about each other that way."

"Now that you mention it that _**is**_ a good idea…" Boruto reluctantly admitted.

Within seconds, Karasu began giggling. Sarada promptly snapped to the left and gave Karasu a cold stare:

"Don't take it the wrong way, Karasu. I can tell what you're thinking, and no, I _don't_ see you the same way. I was able to ignore it in class, but if we're going to be teammates, you're going to have to stop pursuing me, for both our sakes."

Karasu hunched his shoulders and sighed. The next second, however, Karasu looked back up with a wide smile, startling Sarada and Boruto alike:

"That's okay with me, Sarada! Whatever makes you happy! Mom found Dad, so I can find someone else too!"

"Anyway…" Boruto pointed forward with renewed enthusiasm, "… let's see Himawari at recess!"

"Sangetsu too!" Karasu added, and then suddenly stopped walking. Boruto and Sarada looked back to find him looking down, reflecting:

"You know… Sangetsu's so small and fragile… I became a ninja partially so I could protect him."

Boruto looked at Karasu with an eye twitching. "Don't tell me you want to be _Hokage…_ You do look up to Dad, I guess…"

Karasu shook his head. "No… that's not the job I want. I want to do what Mom and Uncle Sasuke do. Find all the criminal scum in the world and bring them to justice. I want to make the world a place where Sangetsu doesn't have to be afraid of anything… I want to be the next leader of the _Yatagarasu!_ "

Sarada gasped. "Yatagarasu? That's Papa's…"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I understand how you feel, Karasu." said Boruto. "Himawari's smile is the most precious thing you'll ever see… I want her to keep smiling no matter what."

"I understand too." Sarada added. "I have a younger sibling too. Sakumo… he's still a baby. Every time I see him I feel compelled to keep him safe."

"Huh… We're all big siblings." Boruto inferred.

Karasu straightened himself and walked back to his teammates' side. "Boruto, Sarada… Let's protect our younger siblings together. That's something we can work toward as a team."

"Yeah." Boruto and Sarada happily replied.

[X-X-X]

Thus Boruto, Sarada, and Karasu left the Academy building and waited near the swing in the playground for recess to start. In due time, many younger students flooded out of the Academy. Karasu used his _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ technique in an attempt to locate the chakra of his brother Sangetsu, and eventually he found him walking out of the Academy doors. Himawari, Boruto's sister, was beside him.

Karasu had known about Himawari from Sangetsu's stories, but he'd never seen her before as back as he could remenber. The only reason he was sure the girl next to Sangetsu was Himawari was because he could spot the same blue eyes Boruto had. Seeing them together was quite the contrast; Himawari's hair was very dark while Sangetsu's was the same sickly white as his father's. From the distance Karasu and his brother were apart from each other however, the every-man would be unable to tell that Sangetsu was a boy; he was even shorter and thinner than Himawari.

Without waiting another moment, Karasu started walking toward them. "They're this way!"

Boruto and Sarada nodded and followed him. As they approached, their targets' smiles widened into pure ecstasy; Sangetsu and Himawari clearly recognized their older brothers and were happy to see them.

"Big Brother!" they cried out and waved simultaneously.

"Himawari!" Boruto waved back.

"Sangetsu!" as did Karasu.

Himawari clasped her hands together with joy. "Sarada-san and Karasu-kun are your teammates, Big Brother?! This is wonderful, San-kun!"

"Yeah… Big Brother and Boruto-kun will spend a lot more time together." Sangetsu meekly smiled. "I think that's great news too, Hima-chan…"

Boruto's eye suddenly twitched:

" _ **-chan?!**_ Since when did you think it was okay to refer to my sister with such a derogatory term, you little pipsqueak?!"

Karasu quickly stepped in between his brother and his teammate. "Now who's the one calling who _derogatory terms_ , Boruto?! You won't get away with calling Sangetsu a pipsqueak!"

At that moment, Sarada got between her teammates and pulled them both a few feet away by the ear:

"Stop fighting, you two! You're going to make your siblings _cry_ at this rate!"

"It's okay!" Himawari said, giving her brother the evil eye as she hugged Sangetsu from the side. "I'm okay with San-kun calling me Hima-chan."

Boruto looked away in shame. "Sorry, Himawari… Sangetsu…"

"Besides, San-kun is a lot stronger than he appears to be! I'd even say he's more talented than _you_ , Big Brother!"

All the older kids froze with shock. Karasu was the first to ask for clarification:

"Excuse me, Himawari? Are you telling the truth?"

"Show him yourself, San-kun!"

Himawari let him go and stepped aside.

Sangetsu shivered as he stepped forward. He took his hands out from behind his back and showed Karasu, Boruto, and Sarada a full water bottle. Next, he twisted off the bottle cap and poured the half the water out on to the pavement below, creating a puddle. Once the puddle was complete, he closed his water bottle and put it away. After that, Sangetsu's expression hardened as he placed his hands together in a hand seal, and in a second or so the puddle on the ground began to freeze. In half-a-minute, what was once a pool of water was a pool of _ice._

"What the…"

Karasu was at a loss for words, unable to respond to the feat that his brother had just demonstrated. From the looks of things, so were Boruto and Sarada.

Sangetsu looked up into Karasu's eyes with worry. "Is something wrong, Big Brother? You've never been this… _quiet_ before…"

Karasu took a moment to collect his thoughts before responding:

"Since when could you do this, Sangetsu? And how did you do it?!"

"It was just this morning, a little after the start of class… I had to go to the restroom, and when I was washing my hands, the water just froze… I don't know how exactly I did it, but when it happened, chakra like Father's was in one hand and chakra like Mother's was in the other… I told Hima-chan about it in class, and I wanted to show her during recess…"

"Oh… I see…"

Karasu hugged his brother to avoid looking into his eyes. "You've got a very special power in you… I'm real happy for you, Sangetsu…"

"He doesn't _sound_ all that happy…" Sarada whispered to Boruto.

"I'm sure _part_ of him is." Boruto whispered back. "I… know what it's like."

At that moment, Boruto's eyes slowly drifted over to Himawari. She noticed her brother looking at her and triumphantly smiled his way.

"What _is_ this power, Big Brother?" Sangetsu asked as he reciprocated Karasu's embrace, his whole body shivering with fear. "I've never seen Mother or Father do something like this… Why am I the only one with it?"

"Hmm… I don't know."

Karasu shook his head, but he quickly released his grip on Sangetsu and looked him in the eye with renewed vigour. "The best thing we can do right now is show a teacher your ability and explain what happened in the restroom. They could tell you about your power and what you could do about it."

Overhearing Karasu's suggestion, Boruto and Sarada looked in several directions from where they were standing, but couldn't find a teacher that was nearby. Himawari followed suit by activating her Byakugan, but shook her head, having also failed in finding a teacher.

"That's strange." said Sarada. "It's recess and we're in the playground, but there aren't any supervising teachers nearby that we can see…"

At that moment, Karasu's eyes lit, and he suddenly turned around to face his team:

"What did you just say, Sarada?"

"There aren't any supervising teachers nearby that we can see. What of it, Karasu?"

"That doesn't necessarily mean the teachers _aren't here_ _._ "

Boruto, Sarada, and Himawari tilted their heads in confusion. Sangetsu, meanwhile, widened his eyes comprehensively:

"You think they're hiding in places we can't see them. Then we might still be able to _sense_ them… You're better than me at Mother's technique, Big Brother…"

"I'll give it a shot."

Karasu calmly closed his eyes and made a hand seal, putting all his energy into scouring as much of the playground as possible for adult-size chakra signatures. After several seconds, Karasu's _Mind's Eye of the Kagura_ was alerted to a chakra in the middle of some trees that lined one of the playground's borders.

"That way!"

Karasu began running in the direction of the chakra. Boruto and Sarada followed soon after him, with Himawari and Sangetsu shortly behind. After a couple minutes, the five found themselves at the chakra's source: one of the trees themselves.

Boruto grinned as he looked suspiciously at the tree. "I get it! _Somebody_ 's using the Transformation Jutsu to spy on us!"

"Guess you caught me!"

The tree promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke. In its place emerged a young man with spiky brown hair wearing the standard Hidden Leaf headband and flak jacket and a blue scarf, the man's most notable feature.

"Now that you have, it seems like I have no choice but to _pass you_ , Sarada Uchiha, Boruto Uzumaki, and Karasu Uzumaki!"

Boruto, Sarada, and Karasu's jaws dropped. " _ **You're**_ our Jonin instructor?!"

"The name is Konohamaru Sarutobi! And since we'll be working together for the foreseeable future, you better remember it!"

"What did you mean by we pass, Konohamaru-Sensei?!" Boruto asked. "I thought we already graduated!"

"That's the thing…"

Konohamaru hesitated for a moment, looking at Himawari and Sangetsu with apprehension. But he quickly returned his focus to his students:

"There's actually a hidden final exam. Every year, the Jonin teachers get a chance to evaluate their teams for themselves. If a Jonin finds their team isn't capable of working together, then the team gets sent back to the Academy. That was the purpose of today's exercise. Why do you think you were given the whole day to yourselves?"

"So you could monitor our behaviour… and judge whether or not we could function as a team all on our own!" Sarada deduced.

"Exactly. Meeting at the end of the day would ordinarily be the time when we Jonin announce the results of your final exam. Of course, any team of three that doesn't make it back as a complete unit on time fails by default. Then again, I was planning on passing you as soon as you agreed to meet Sangetsu and Himawari for recess together…"

"Excuse me, Konohamaru-Sensei!" Himawari interjected.

"Yes?"

"Isn't it unfair to explain the exam to Academy students like San-kun and me?"

"The exam's structure _changes every year_ to prevent just that kind of an advantage. So I see no harm in explaining it now, since there's no telling what you'll have to face in two years."

"Never mind that." said Karasu. "We sought you out to ask about Sangetsu's ability, Konohamaru-Sensei. Why can he freeze water?!"

"I'm too sure on the details myself…"

In response, Sangetsu, Himawari, and Karasu frowned with disappointment.

Konohamaru started sweating. "Hey, cheer up! I don't know everything, but I _do_ know that it's probably the _Ice Style_ Kekkei Genkai… Yeah, it seems similar to the ability that one of the Hokage's earliest opponents had. What to do about it… I know just the thing!"

Suddenly, Konohamaru pulled a phone out of his pocket and began dialing.

"Who are you calling, Sensei?" Karasu asked as he peered at the phone intently.

"Your _father_ , Karasu. I was given your contact information when I was made your team's instructor yesterday evening. Now if you don't mind…"

At that moment, the phone began ringing, and Konohamaru placed it up to his right ear.

Karasu shrugged, and then crossed his arms in disgust. "You're wasting your time. No way is Dad going to answer… probably too focused on those damn _swords_ to care."

Sangetsu looked down in silence. The others were speechless as well.

After a few seconds, however, someone picked up on the receiving end of Konohamaru's call:

" _Who's talking? Better have a good reason for interrupting my training…_ "

Karasu and Sangetsu could immediately recognize the voice: it was their father, Suigetsu.

"This is Konohamaru Sarutobi!"

" _And I should care who you are because?_ "

"I'm Karasu's teacher starting today."

" _Oh! So Karasu passed?!_ "

"Yes, he passed."

" _What about the other kids' parents? Have you called them too?!_ "

"No, I haven't called his teammates' parents."

" _So I'm the first to hear about it. Lucky me._ "

"I wasn't calling about Karasu's passing in the first place! It's something more urgent!"

" _What could be more urgent than my son becoming a ninja, huh?!_ "

"It's your other son, Sangetsu. He demonstrated an Ice Style technique!"

" _Ice Style? Ha ha ha! You're totally making that up!_ "

"I'm not making anything up! And frankly, I'm offended you'd accuse me of prank-calling about your son!"

" _Then you should have called Sasuke or Naruto about it! They actually fucking fought Haku!_ "

"You know why I can't do that! Naruto's the Hokage and Sasuke's in charge of the Yatagarasu! I get that they actually fought Haku, but I can't interrupt their very important work for this!"

" _But you interrupted_ _ **MY**_ _very important work for this, you goddamn hypocrite!_ "

"You're just training! Besides, Sangetsu's your _**son!**_ Doesn't he matter more to you than a mere tool?!"

" _What an idiot!_ "

"Excuse me?!"

" _I never said I_ _ **wouldn't**_ _check Sangetsu out, did I? No, I didn't. You're an idiot for not noticing that. I'll be at the Academy in time for lunch break. You happy, Leaf Boy? Now fuck off._ "

Suigetsu's last words were followed by a sharp crack coming from Konohamaru's phone, indicating that Suigetsu hung up. Konohamaru sighed as he placed his phone back in his pocket:

"Your father has to be one of the most aggravating people I've ever spoken to, Karasu, Sangetsu. You have my sympathies."

"At least he promised to come…" said Sarada.

"Yeah," Boruto nodded in agreement, and then turned to look Karasu straight in the eyes with a smirk. "You don't give your dad enough credit."

Karasu looked away, confused by his father's decision. "Maybe I don't…"

All of a sudden, the six of them heard a bell ring from the direction of the Academy. Sangetsu and Himawari sprung to attention and started running across the playground to the building.

"Ah! Recess is over! Bye Big Brother!" HImawari shouted during her sprint, waving behind her at Boruto.

"Bye Himawari!" Boruto waved back. Karasu waved as well:

"See you at lunch, Sangetsu!"

The boy with Ice Style responded by silently waving behind him.

[X-X-X]

When lunch time came during the next few hours, Karasu sensed his father arrive at the Academy's front door. He and Team Konohamaru gathered there, and then sought out Sangetsu when he went outside for lunch recess. Surely enough, Himawari was still with him. Suigetsu received an account of the discovery of Sangetsu's talent by both his sons, and spent the next few seconds pacing, thinking the incident over.

During this time, Boruto noticed that Suigetsu was wearing two belts: one around his waist and the other over his right shoulder. Nothing was attached to them, so the point of wearing the second belt was lost on him.

Eventually Suigetsu's pacing came to an abrupt halt:

"No way… I can still hardly believe it, but…!"

"What's going on, Father?" Sangetsu asked, shivering with anxiety.

Suigetsu got on his knees and tightly gripped Sangetsu in a hug:

"I figured out how you have Ice Style, my boy! You got Water Style from me, and Wind Style runs in your mom's side of the family! Those gifts blended together _just right_ , allowing you to _**combine them!**_ The ability to combine two elements together is something that only a tiny fraction of ninja can do… Not even your mom or I can do it. But even so, you _**can**_ , Sangetsu. That's… nothing short of a miracle."

"A miracle?" Sangetsu looked up into his father's eyes with wonder. "I'm a miracle?"

At that statement, Suigetsu's face hardened and he stopped smiling:

"Listen, Sangetsu. You may have a very rare gift, but by _no means_ does that make you a better person than anyone else. A relative of your mom's was born with an even more special gift than yours, but the ego went to his head, and as a result, he abused his gift and came to see other people as mere tools. That led to him nearly wiping his own clan – _your_ clan - off the face of the planet. _That's_ the kind of person you'll become if you let yourself be defined the power you're born with."

Sangetsu began to cry. "I don't want to be like that. I just want to keep our family together… You and Mother are always fighting, and Big Brother and Big Sister get angry over the slightest things… It feels like we could _fall apart_ at any moment… If I have power, then all I want to use it for is to protect you all… That's enough for me."

Suigetsu shook his head. "We're not going to fall apart any time soon. Mom and I might fight a lot, but that's just part of how we show our love for each other… And your brother and sister care about you just as much as you care about them. You just show those feelings differently than they do."

Sangetsu dried his tears and smiled:

"Thank you, Father."

Everyone present could see the sharp teeth Sangetsu shared with his father.

Suigetsu smiled back. "Any time, Sangetsu! It's a parent's duty to look after their kids, after all!"

Suigetsu then proceeded to let Sangetsu go, stand up, and walk over to Karasu, who turned his back to his father and brother during their conversation. Karasu had his arms crossed and was trembling.

"That includes you, Karasu." Suigetsu said, his tone darkening once again. "I-"

"Shut it, Dad!"

A dreadful silence filled the air.

"Big Brother…." Sangetsu struggled to keep watching. Himawari noticed this and inched closer to Sangetsu's side.

"What the hell, Karasu?!" Boruto shouted, preparing to throw a punch. "Your dad bothered to come here and help your brother, and you're _pissed off_ about it?! If _**my**_ dad did that, then -"

"Stop, Boruto."

Konohamaru caught Boruto's fist in his hand, forcibly bringing it back down to Boruto's side. "You have your own problems and Karasu has his. Give him a chance to explain himself."

"If you say so, Sensei…"

"Don't give me any of your sympathy, Dad. I don't buy a second of it!" Karasu yelled. "You've _never_ cared about me. You were always more invested in Kawashi… and it took Sangetsu showing off a freak display of ninjutsu just to get you to come here. Every day I come home from the Academy, there you are, practicing with those swords… never watching me come in. So stop _pretending_ like you give a fuck _now._ "

Almost everyone was made speechless with shock at Karasu's rant, Sangetsu in particular on the verge of tears. The only one able to respond, ironically, was Suigetsu himself, who couldn't help but laugh a little when Karasu finished. Upon hearing it, Karasu turned around to face his father, sheer fury engulfing Karasu's eyes.

"Why are you… _laughing_ , Dad?!"

At that very moment, however, Karasu found himself being held by his father, his head buried in his old man's abdomen:

"You're just like your mother, you know that? No matter what I do, she always finds some way to complain about it. You didn't just inherit her good looks and sensing ability, that much is clear!"

"Dad?"

"Look, I've really been trying to be a good dad to all of you. I even cut down on my training time to raise you, and make sure I was always there when you came home from the Academy. But it looks like I didn't do a good enough job, and for that, I'm sorry. Still… I _**am**_ proud that you managed to become a ninja. And now that you _have…_ " Suigetsu started to smirk, "… I can _hire you for a mission!_ One that will let me spend time with _just you_ , Karasu… Sangetsu will still be in the Academy and Kawashi will have her own missions to deal with."

As Suigetsu finished, he turned his head to face Konohamaru, still holding Karasu in his arms. "You heard that right, Leaf Boy. I'd like to request your team's services."

"Uhh…" Konohamaru's eyes twitched, taken aback by the sudden announcement. "What for? Boruto, Sarada, and Karasu are just Genin…"

"Nothing too dangerous. I just want you to come with me and _watch…_ as I finally claim Samehada for myself and become the World's Strongest Swordsman! Certainly watching two _Kage-level fighters_ duke it out would be good for the kids' growth as ninja, right? And Karasu will get to see how awesome his old man can be first-hand."

"I'm not too sure about this… Just being _near you_ will put the kids in danger. It'd be an _**A-Rank**_ mission! ' _Nothing too dangerous_ ' my foot!"

"Relax, would you?"

Suigetsu let Karasu go and turned his entire body in Konohamaru's direction. "I'll see to it that the kids are safe throughout the whole fight. If I can't make the proper arrangements, we'll call the whole thing off, okay?"

"… What do you guys think?" Konohamaru asked his students.

Boruto pumped his fists excitedly. "I want to go!"

Sarada shrugged. "I don't have any objections."

Suigetsu looked back down to his son. "What about you, Karasu?"

"Only if Mom comes too…"

Karasu looked away and started blushing.

Suigetsu cheerfully pat Karasu's shoulder. "Good idea! She can help you hone your techniques on the way! And someone will have to heal my opponent and me after the fight anyway!"

"Regardless," Konohamaru interjected, "I suppose it will take a few days to make all of these arrangements."

"Yeah. I'll let you know when everything's ready."

Suigetsu then let Karasu go once more and turned his back, intent on leaving. "See you at home, Karasu, Sangetsu."

"Goodbye, Father." Sangetsu waved.

"Bye, Dad…" Karasu followed suit.

"Hold on!"

Suigetsu turned his head back to Sarada, who had just voiced her objection. "What's on your mind?"

"Umm… How do I put this? … You said that winning this upcoming battle would make you the _World's Strongest Swordsman…_ but that isn't quite right, is it? I mean, Papa uses a sword and he's stronger than you."

"Don't be so sure about that. He might have been stronger than me for a while, but if we were to fight now… I don't know who would win. Anyway, see ya."

Suigetsu then resumed walking away.

Karasu laughed once his father was out of earshot. "Hah! As if Dad's anywhere near as strong as Uncle Sasuke!"

"We'll just have to wait and see, now won't we, Karasu?" Konohamaru replied as his eyes remained fixated on Suigetsu's back. "Your father might be much stronger than you give him credit for. I have a feeling that he's of the same type as the Hokage… Underestimate him at your own peril."

Karasu would not learn the meaning of those words for another week.


	81. Epilogue 2: Sunrise of a Salamander

The following day, near the Hidden Rain Village…

"That's enough, Tenchi. You're transforming."

Jugo was observing his daughter sitting cross-legged from under a waterfall gathering Natural Energy. Ordinarily, Tenchi had the same orange hair and brown eyes as her father, but otherwise looked more like her mother. Notably, however, Tenchi also had small horns of the same creamy colour as the rest of her skin protruding from her temples, and she had them since birth.

Jugo was not sure why that was the case. Part of him thought that it was because he had entered Sage Mode permanently by the time he and Tenten conceived her, and he had horns in Sage Mode. Yet another part of him thought the horns were a by-product of Gyuki's chakra, like how Naruto's whiskers were a by-product of Kurama's. Regardless of the reason, however, Tenchi's horns were a feature that was unique to her. It was a mark of her individuality, and Jugo loved his daughter all the same.

At this moment, of course, Tenchi's appearance was changing. For the last four years, Tenchi had occasionally transformed and lost control of herself, just as Jugo had in his own childhood. Jugo was able to stop her rampage the first time, and since then he put his travels on hold to train her in Senjutsu. For the longest time, Tenchi had been unable to remain completely still, so each transformation resulted in her losing herself and Jugo having to step in and stop her.

That pattern was about to be broken.

Unlike all her previous transformations, the change had been focused on Tenchi's face; she gained yellow eye markings that extended to cover her horns. Once Tenchi felt her transformation was complete, she stood up, exited the waterfall, and opened her eyes. It was then that Jugo saw that her irises turned black and expanded to cover most of the sclera, with her pupils turning white and shrinking down to a single point in the centre.

Tenchi looked down at herself, her eyes wide with a deep satisfaction. "Father… I'm… I'm in control of myself…"

"Try to manipulate your arms now."

Tenchi nodded and did as Jugo commanded, and to her surprise, her arms did not turn the shade of putrid gray they used to; they turned black and slimy with yellow spots.

"I'm the opposite of you, Father… Rather than white and purple, I turn black and yellow. Why is that?"

Jugo kneeled down to look his daughter in the eye. "It's the Natural Energy in the area, Tenchi. Fifteen years ago, even before your mother and I met each other, Warushizen, a … less fortunate relative of ours, bestowed upon this land an excess of Natural Energy in his last living moments. Salamanders lived nearby, and since Warushizen's passing salamanders began speaking the language of humans. That's why we came to live in the Hidden Rain: so I could help the salamanders adjust to their new development. Effectively, we witnessed the formation of the _Salamander Senjutsu School…_ and it appears as though you're the first human to ever acquire a _Salamander Sage Mode._ "

"The first Salamander Sage…" Tenchi closed her eyes and smiled as she hugged her father. "I'm from the same clan as Lord Yahiko, and I'm connected to the salamanders like Lord Hanzo. They were on opposite sides, but I'm happy I can be like both of them!"

Jugo returned the embrace. "I'm happy too, Tenchi."

"Let's hurry back home so we can tell Mother the good news!"

"Actually…" Jugo paused and turned his head to the right, "Your mother's coming here, and rather quickly. Seems urgent."

At that moment, Jugo released Tenchi and stood up, beginning to head in Tenten's direction. Tenchi followed.

It took only a minute for them to unite in the middle of the wetlands that separated the Hidden Rain Village and their usual training spot. When they did, Tenten immediately noticed her daughter's transformation and her eyes lit with wonder:

"You finally did it, Tenchi!"

Tenchi smiled from just behind her father. "Thank you, Mother!"

"You don't usually meet us in the middle of Sage training." Jugo interjected, facing Tenten with confusion. "What's going on?"

"It's your old friend, Suigetsu."

Tenten suddenly pulled a scroll out of her right pocket and handed it to Jugo. "You should read it."

Jugo nodded in compliance and started reading:

 _Dear Jugo:_

 _Long time, no talk, buddy! Four years, if I'm remembering right. Said something about your daughter needing Sage training and staying in the Hidden Rain until she was done. That was the last time I ever heard from you._

 _Whatever. The point is that it's finally time! I'm calling Killer B out to Turtle Island's shell for the final battle. Samehada's going to be MINE, and I want you there to see it happen! And to give me your notes on the Shark Senjutsu School once I've won… You did take notes, right? I can't just up and leave for the place on my own when I have three kids to look after._

 _Speaking of kids, has your daughter finished her training by now? If she hasn't, then I understand if you can't make it to my upcoming fight for her sake and I won't hold it against you. But if she has, wonderful! You can bring her along! Karasu and Sasuke's little girl are most likely going to be there, and I'm sure they'd be excited to meet Tenchi… they probably don't remember the last time they met her!_

 _Anyway, I'm not going to challenge Killer B until I know for sure whether or not you're coming. So write back as soon as possible, okay?_

 _Still kicking ass,_

 _Suigetsu._

 _PS: You might want to know that in between the last time you wrote and now, Sasuke had another kid._

 _PPS: Crap! I forgot to mention Tenten… Hi Tenten! How have you been doing? Do you want to come watch my fight too? You'll get to see some of the Seven Swords of the Mist in action! That passion for weapons hasn't died out in you yet, has it? If not, you're in for a real treat!_

Upon finishing Suigetsu's letter, Jugo's eyes widened:

"What remarkable timing…"

"I'll say!" Tenten said with a gleam in her eyes. "Suigetsu invites us to watch him fight right as Tenchi becomes a Sage!"

"It sounds like you really want to watch him."

"Of course I do!"

At that moment, Tenten turned on her family and began marching back toward the village. "Come on! We need to pack and head south as fast as we can!"

"I wasn't objecting, you know…" Jugo shrugged as he followed Tenten, with Tenchi just behind him. "We just need to write back to Suigetsu and say goodbye to Ameko before we leave…"

While Jugo and Tenten were conversing, Tenchi's thoughts were consumed with something else, and a faint blush appeared in her cheeks:

"Ka-ra-su…"

"What about Karasu, Tenchi?" asked Jugo.

"It's just… it's a pretty name. She must be… very cute to have a name like that…"

"Karasu's a _boy_ , Tenchi."

Immediately upon hearing the word 'boy', Tenchi tripped from an overload of nerves and her Sage Mode dispelled itself. Jugo caught his daughter just before she fell to the ground, and then helped her to her feet. He then looked toward the horizon to see Tenten getting smaller by the second.

"We can talk about this later. Right now we need to hurry… we're losing your mother."


	82. Epilogue 3: Yatagarasu

_Where are you, Papa?_

Sarada was anxiously looking down at the pavement beneath her. She soon snapped up to attention when a man yelled from several feet away from her:

"Hey, look at the camera! I can't stand around waiting for the dad to show up all day! I have a job to do!"

Sarada looked into the camera in response to the photographer's demand, but her mind was still wandering elsewhere.

"Maybe we should just reschedule?" Sakura suggested with a forced smile, standing to Sarada's left while holding Sakumo in her arms. "This was supposed to be to commemorate Sarada becoming a ninja; there's no point if she isn't even in the mood to smile."

The photographer shook his head. "I'm going overtime as is! Either you get a photo _now_ , or you get nothing!"

Suddenly, Sarada exploded with frustration:

"We'll just take it, then! Cha!"

Sarada's shouting startled her mother and the photographer into awkward silence. Eventually the photographer gathered just enough nerves to meekly respond:

"Alright, then! …"

Without caring to check the family's position, the man took a picture of them, and then waited for his photo to develop. After a few seconds, the finished product was in his hands and he checked it for good measure. He was taken aback in surprise to the contents, but he eventually shook his head, left the photo on the ground, and then swiftly turned his back and ran away from the family as fast as he could with his camera in tow. While he was leaving, the man gave one final panicked shout:

"My work here is done! Goodbye!"

Sarada and Sakura stared at each other with confused expressions briefly before Sarada walked over to the photo and picked it up. She sighed, depressed at her father's absence in the photo, but her eyes were quickly diverted to her own image, shocked by what the photographer captured.

"My eyes… they're…"

Sarada instinctively turned around and ran back to her mother, showing her the photo and pointing to her own face in it. Sakura's eyes widened when she spotted the same oddity:

"Yes, Sarada… for that split second, you had the _Sharingan!_ You must have been so worried about your father that your eyes responded to it!"

"Yeah…" Sarada looked away, still consumed with fear. "Can you call Papa to check where he is? He never broke a promise to me before…"

"Sure."

Sakura proceeded to hand Sakumo to Sarada and pull out her phone. She punched in Sasuke's number and put her phone up to her right ear, expecting Sasuke's voice on the other end. To her dismay, the voice was not Sasuke's and what it said turned that dismay to horror:

" _The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again._ "

Sakura twitched. "Unavailable? If that's so, then…"

"Then what?" Sarada asked, looking up to her mother, impatient for an answer.

"Then either your father's still at work and his phone is off, or…" Sakura's voice darkened, "he's been taken somewhere that doesn't have reception and he _can't_ contact us even if he wanted to."

Sakura took a moment of silence to think and put away her phone, and then carefully enough not to disrupt Sakumo, suddenly swiped the photo out of Sarada's hand, pulled a pen out of her pocket, and drew something on the back of the photo.

Sarada tilted her head in confusion. "What are you doing, Mama?"

"It's a map of the village. I've marked our house, the Academy, the hospital, and the Hokage's office for frames of reference." Sakura crouched to show her daughter the back of the photo eye-to-eye, "Go to the building marked with a three-legged raven. That's Yatagarasu HQ; your father and your aunt Karin work there. Find Karin and ask her about your father. If anyone knows where he is, it's her."

Sarada gasped. "Me?"

"Consider it your first mission. I need to take Sakumo home, so it's up to you. Also…" Sakura started to smirk, "… if you go to Yatagarasu HQ, learn where your father is, and come back home to tell me, I'll give you a book _written by Lord Seventh himself._ "

"Okay, Mama… I'll do it!"

Sarada looked down at Sakumo, stroking his tuft of pink hair with her left hand while keeping him steady with her right arm. "Bye, Sakumo!"

The infant Uchiha cried as his older sister handed him back to his mother and received the map in return. After sharing glances for but one moment later, Sakura began walking back home while Sarada ran past her and toward Yatagarasu headquarters.

[X-X-X]

It had taken Sarada twenty minutes to run close enough to Yatagarasu headquarters for it to appear within her range of vision. Seeing it reminded her of what her parents had told her about the landmark. It used to be the home of her own Uchiha clan, but one day most of the clan was destroyed, and several years later the compound itself was destroyed along with the rest of the village. Then the village was rebuilt, and eventually the compound was as well. Rather than live there, however, her father and Karasu's mother Karin decided to make it the base of operations for their new organization.

That was made apparent by the symbol marking various walls, and the larger one on the main building of the compound. Instead of the Uchiha clan symbol - which was there in the past - the symbol was now a red spiral with a black three-legged raven in front of it. As soon as she saw the symbol, the reason Sakura marked Yatagarasu HQ with a three-legged raven became obvious to her.

Sarada's first instinct when she arrived at the compound was to knock on the front door:

"Is Karin Uzumaki in there?!"

For several seconds, there was no response. As Sarada's patience grew thinner, she began hearing footsteps to her right, coming toward her very fast. Sarada barely had the time to look in their direction before whoever was making those footsteps ran past her, turned around, and grabbed her stomach from behind with a right hand while pointing an index finger to her head with their left. For the brief moment Sarada saw her attacker, she took note of two features: a Hidden Leaf flak jacket and short, pink hair not unlike her mother's.

"Hah. Pretty sloppy excuse for an intruder!" the attacker remarked in a voice that, while gruff, Sarada could easily tell was female.

"Intruder? But it's me, Sarada…"

The Uchiha turned her head to look at her attacker more clearly. It was then she noticed that her attacker had the same blue-purple eyes as Suigetsu and her bared teeth were all sharp, and instantly she understood:

"You're… Kawashi?!"

"Don't play dumb!" Kawashi pressed her index finger onto Sarada's temple. "Anybody could try transforming into the boss's _little girl_ to get an easy way in here! So drop the act and show your true face!"

"Doesn't the same hold for you? You're Aunt Karin's daughter, and a member of the Yatagarasu to boot. If anyone wanted to trespass, they'd transform into _you_ , wouldn't they?"

"Argh… you have a point. So give me proof you're really who you say you are, and I'll let you go."

"Okay…"

Sarada closed her eyes, putting all her thoughts on her missing father, trying to replicate the emotions she felt the moment the photo was taken. While doing so, she felt a surge of chakra inside her, and in that moment she opened her eyes and looked backward at Kawashi once more. Kawashi's jaw dropped at the sight of Sarada's eyes:

"See? I have the Sharingan. Proof I'm a descendant of Sasuke Uchiha, and the only other one is too young to manipulate chakra. That means I'm Sarada."

Kawashi trembled for a moment, and was about to loosen her grip on Sarada, but suddenly she redoubled her efforts and spit onto the top of Sarada's head:

"As if! The real Sarada doesn't even _**have**_ the Sharingan! You must have just altered the Transformation Jutsu to make it _**look like**_ you have the Sharingan!"

"Wait a minute! If you're really Karin's daughter, then all this questioning is pointless! You could just sense the chakra in me and you'd know whether or not I'm Sarada right away. Karasu and Sangetsu can do it, so Kawashi can too, right?"

Kawashi bit her lip in hesitation.

Sarada smirked. "Cat got your tongue? Maybe you're the imposter after all."

It was then that Kawashi replied with a bitter voice:

"You're a real lucky girl. Children don't always inherit the gifts of their parents."

"No way…" Sarada's eyes widened. "You can't sense chakra at all…"

Kawashi looked away in shame, still keeping her finger pressed on Sarada's head. "What's it to you, huh?"

"How can I trust you if you can't?"

Kawashi hesitated for a few seconds, unsure how to proceed. The hesitation ended, however, when Kawashi let Sarada go and jumped ten feet further behind Sarada in a single bound, pointing her left finger in the air.

"Watch closely." Kawashi calmly demanded. Sarada complied, spinning around to watch her with her Sharingan. Once Kawashi had Sarada's attention, she closed her eyes, shifted the position of her left arm slightly, and made a sudden motion with her left index finger. Sarada could see a water droplet leaving Kawashi's finger with the Sharingan, but before she could blink she heard a splash directly above her. Sarada looked up to find the raven's eye in the main building's Yatagarasu symbol had gotten wet.

"See that?" Kawashi asked rhetorically as she lowered her arm to point at Sarada's head from where she stood. "I may not be able to sense chakra, but I _can_ blast your head off from over a hundred metres away, and it'd happen so fast that you wouldn't see it coming even _**if**_ that Sharingan was real. And the only other person in the world who can do it… fucked my mom."

At that moment, Sarada put her hands up in surrender. "So you really are Kawashi… Sorry I doubted you."

"I'm still doubting _**you.**_ Give me _one good reason_ why I shouldn't send you to a watery grave right this instant!"

At that moment, a chill went down Sarada's spine. Sarada knew she had no chance against Kawashi in a fight; their initial exchange proved that Kawashi's speed in close range was too fast for Sarada to react to. And at long range, not even her Sharingan could follow Kawashi's shots completely. Of course, Sarada was convinced Kawashi was stronger than her the moment she saw the flak jacket: that was proof Kawashi was already a Chunin or Jonin, while Sarada had only become a Genin two days ago. Afraid for her life, Sarada got on her knees and begged:

"Please… think about what would happen if I really was Sarada. You'd be killing your boss's daughter… you'd lose your job, at the very least. And Karasu! Your brother would be losing a teammate! Don't you realize how terrible he'd feel after that?!"

"Tch."

Kawashi lowered her arm and walked up to Sarada. When she got there, she crossed her arms in disgust and, without warning, punted Sarada in the neck with her right foot with enough force to knock her so far into the air that she rose above the top of Yatagarasu HQ. Sarada panicked, looking down to find Kawashi pointing at her yet again:

"If you really are Sarada Uchiha, then you'll be skilled enough to survive this fall! But if you die, then you're definitely a fake, so I don't need to give a fuck!"

 _That's crazy talk!_

Dwelling on her thoughts for only a moment, Sarada tried to calm herself and observe her surroundings with the Sharingan in search of a way to save herself. To her terror, however, the Sharingan deactivated at that very moment, and everything turned into a blur.

 _Wha… My glasses are gone?!_

Sarada had only now noticed that her glasses were knocked off when Kawashi kicked her; she apparently did not need them when her Sharingan was active. Sarada attempted to activate the Sharingan again to correct her vision, but the strain on her eyes caused her to fail. She then tried closing her eyes to focus on her other senses, yet her neck injury and fatigue made it too hard to concentrate, and she remained blind during her free fall.

All hope seemed lost. With death seeming inevitable, all of Sarada's thoughts were focused on one thing, and she let out a scream as her eyes began watering to express it, hoping someone would hear her and continue the mission where she left off:

" _ **Papa's missing! Please find him!**_ "

Sarada was surprised, and relieved, by what followed. She made contact with something, but it was not the cold, hard pavement that would have killed her. It was soft and warm, and it turned her face-up in its arms. Sarada opened her eyes to find that her vision was somewhat clear; not as blurry as it is without her glasses, but not quite as clear as with her glasses or the Sharingan. Her first thought was that she was wearing someone else's glasses. This thought would be confirmed in the next moment, when she figured out what she was seeing. A woman with red eyes, long red hair tied in a ponytail that appeared fuzzier on one side, and full lips, wearing a forehead protector of some kind, smiling down at her, squinting, struggling to see herself. Sarada recalled what Suigetsu said about Karasu - how he was 'just like his mother' - and the woman she was seeing looked remarkably similar to Karasu.

"Aunt Karin?" Sarada asked.

The woman nodded as she let Sarada down and helped her stand. Then she turned her attention to Kawashi, her smile turning into a disappointed frown:

"Kawashi, apologize to Sarada right this instant!"

Kawashi complied immediately, bowing to both show her remorse and avert her eyes from her mother's glare. "I'm sorry, Sarada… I'll pick up your glasses."

"That's not all you're going to do, Kawashi." Karin shook her head, "You're also going to write a letter of resignation to Sasuke when he gets back."

Kawashi shivered with exasperation. "A _**letter of resignation?!**_ You mean I'm kicked out for this?!"

Karin put her hands on her hips and pouted. "What the hell did you _expect_ _,_ Kawashi?! It's not up to us to decide who lives and who dies, and here you are taking someone's life in your own hands. You'd have been kicked out even _**if**_ Sarada was an imposter. It's reasonable for you to have doubts, but you should have settled them right away by _coming to me instead._ "

"Coming to _you_ for help… Psh…" Kawashi shook her head and proceeded to walk around her mother and Sarada and toward Sarada's fallen glasses. "I might only be a year older than Sarada and Karasu, but I'm not a _child_ anymore, Mom… I'm a Chunin. _Crying for Mommy_ 's the last thing I'd ever do…"

"Would you have done it if I _wasn't_ your mother?"

Kawashi froze, unable to respond to Karin's question. She decided to avoid answering entirely; she picked up Sarada's glasses and promptly delivered them to Karin without saying a word.

"Think about it some more when you're looking for another job at home." Karin solemnly instructed. Kawashi silently nodded as she removed her flak jacket - which Sarada now noticed had the Yatagarasu symbol on its back - and walked away with hunched shoulders. Meanwhile, Karin replaced the glasses on Sarada's face with the Genin's own pair, then put her own glasses back on.

Sarada could see Karin clearly for the first time today. She was wearing a light purple waistcoat with a white blouse underneath, a red tie, a purple skirt, and black thigh-high sandal-boots. Sarada could also now see that that Karin's headband had a three-legged raven etched into it.

 _She's beautiful…_ Sarada thought.

With Kawashi safely out of earshot, Karin's pout swiftly changed into a pained smile as she crouched and held Sarada's neck, unnerving her.

"Sorry I couldn't save you in time, Sarada. Your neck's all bruised up now…" Karin sighed, then stood back up and turned for the front door, "Your parents are definitely going to give me hell for what happened to you now. Especially your dad."

Sarada's eyes went blank with shock. "You know… where Papa is?!"

"That's what you came here to find out, right?" Karin looked behind herself and winked at Sarada as she started walking. "Follow me if you want to know."

"Ah… yes, mam!"

Flustered, Sarada quickly nodded and then ran to catch up with Karin as she opened the door.

[X-X-X]

Karin led Sarada up several flights of stairs until they reached the top floor, and then into a spacious room with several bookshelves lining the walls, a desk in the centre with a large chair on one side and four smaller ones on the other, and windows on the walls left and right of the large chair. Karin motioned for Sarada to sit in one of the smaller chairs while Karin herself sat in the large one.

"Here's what happened to your dad." said Karin. "Sasuke told me that he'd be leaving early to celebrate your graduation with his family, and left taking care of the office to me for the rest of the day. I saw him off and came up here, and as I was going through some paperwork, I sensed Sasuke's chakra _disappear_ all of a sudden."

" _Disappear?_ "

Sarada shivered, tears forming in her eyes at the obvious implication.

"I wasn't finished." Karin shook her head, smiling calmly. "I thought the same thing at first, so I looked through the window to check if I could still see his body. To my relief, I did _not_ see his body. I saw a puff of white smoke instead."

"White smoke…" Sarada stroked her chin in contemplation. "Oh… like a Substitution Jutsu?"

"Not like that, no; I can sense _much_ farther than your dad can substitute. If it was just a Substitution Jutsu, then I would have sensed where he went. What I believe happened is that Sasuke was _summoned_ away."

"Summoned?" Sarada raised an eyebrow, confused. "But who could _summon_ Papa?"

"I figured it out shortly before you arrived. Your dad has two summoning contracts: snakes and hawks. Since the hawks don't come from a Senjutsu School, they can't reverse summon Sasuke on their own. That leaves the snakes, or someone with a snake or hawk that Sasuke summoned at some earlier point to combine their chakra with. Now, Sasuke never had formal Sage training at Ryuchi Cave, so the snakes have no reason to summon Sasuke, and the White Snake Elder probably doesn't recognize Sasuke's chakra so they wouldn't be able to do it even if they wanted to."

"That narrows it down to someone with a snake or hawk Papa already summoned! … Does someone like that even exist, though?"

"There _is_ one." Karin looked away, reflecting on her experiences with the person she had in mind. "I… hesitate to call him a _friend_ , but he's someone your dad and I have known since we were around your age. In some ways, both good and bad, he's the reason we are who we are today. He's been writing a book, and your dad promised that he'd get it published when he was finished. Seems like it's finally happened… about damn time."

"Then Papa won't be back for some time. If he's been summoned so far away that not even you can sense him, I mean…"

"I'll call your mom as soon as I sense him again, okay?"

Sarada sighed with relief and gave Karin an affirming nod. Karin smiled in turn, but that smile suddenly shifted into a concerned pout when she stood up and leaned forward on the desk, eyeing Sarada's face a little too close for her comfort.

"What are you doing, Aunt Karin?!" Sarada protested, slowly leaning away from her. This stopped after a second or so, however, when Karin suddenly backed off and slumped down into her chair, shaking her head with disapproval:

"Oh dear… You should install a lock pick in your glasses pretty soon."

Sarada raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"You awakened the _Sharingan_ , Sarada… I felt it! People have killed and _worse_ for those eyes. That makes you a _target._ What'll you do if you get kidnapped when you're out on a mission, huh? There's no guarantee your teammates will be able to rescue you in time, and brute forcing your way out is a sure-fire way to get yourself killed by the enemy!"

"I… didn't really think about it that way. Do you have a lock pick in your glasses?"

"I was also a girl from an endangered clan with a unique power, so _no shit_. Listen, kiddo. If you want to survive the ninja life, you have to be ready for anything."

"I see…"

At that moment, Sarada stood up and bowed her head:

"Thank you for telling me about Papa."

"You're not leaving yet, are you?" Karin asked, sitting up in her chair and resting her arms on the desk. "Come on! Stay awhile! Certainly there's more you want to ask me!"

"There are a few things…"

After a second of deliberation, Sarada sat back down. "First of all… just what is the Yatagarasu? Papa's never gone into much detail about it, but I want to know more. Karasu wants to take over some day, and I can't help with his dream if I don't even know what his dream _is._ "

Karin started giggling. "So you're asking for _Karasu's_ sake?"

"What's so funny?! Teammates are supposed to help each other!"

"It's nothing, really. Just being nostalgic!"

Karin motioned for Sarada to calm down along with her words. Within seconds Sarada relented, and Karin proceeded to clasp her hands together and stare intently at Sarada once more. "I suppose I can tell you everything available for public disclosure at least… Alright. In short, the Yatagarasu is something like a… international police force."

"But ninja already do police work in their own countries, don't they?"

"Law enforcement is part of a ninja's work, yes, but there are some cases where village ninja aren't fit for an impartial investigation… let's see here…"

Karin stood up and walked over to a bookshelf on her left, fiddling with the contents before taking out a scroll and rolling it out on the desk for Sarada to see. Karin then pointed at a line between two countries:

"This is the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass. For the sake of argument, suppose there are reports of smuggling going on in these countries, and smuggling activity is evenly split between both. Obviously, both Rain and Grass ninja would want to investigate the cases and find the ringleader responsible. But the culprit could be a prominent citizen of the Land of Grass, and hire Grass ninja to dispose of evidence and pin the crime on someone from the Land of Rain. The Hidden Rain wouldn't want that to happen, so they decide to conceal information about the case from the Hidden Grass. But that in itself makes the Hidden Rain suspicious to the Hidden Grass, so they conceal information in turn. It spirals into an endless cycle of deceit and mistrust between the villages, and as a result the culprit is never found, laughing it up at the villages' expense. The Yatagarasu exists to keep those kinds of incidents from happening. If an investigation would be compromised by conflicting jurisdictions or anything similar, then we take care of it. Well, that's our main focus anyway."

"What else do you do?"

Karin took her finger off the map to adjust her glasses. "Aside from those sorts of cases, we also occasionally help villages with domestic cases if they're particularly difficult. The smaller countries come first, however. We don't have the resources to help everyone, and the Five Great Nations don't need our help as much as everyone else. You can understand that, I assume?"

"I guess so. But I'm a little confused. If the Yatagarasu's main purpose is to solve international crimes, and you prioritize the smaller countries for the others, then why is HQ here, in the Hidden Leaf?"

"Take a good look at the map, Sarada." Karin pointed at roughly where the Hidden Leaf Village was on the map, "The Hidden Leaf is a fairly central location among the Shinobi Alliance. We can reach just about anyone that needs our help in a timely manner from here. There were other reasons your dad and I decided on this building to be our base, but this was the _main_ one."

"There's still one thing I don't get." Sarada looked away from the map and up to Karin, who was standing next to her, "What does any of this have to do with … Kawashi?"

"The Yatagarasu _exposes_ crime, not punishes it. _That_ job is up to the local authorities: the villages and the Daimyo. Because of this, one thing we _never_ do on the job is kill people, including criminals. Your dad and I teach all Yatagarasu members ways to take down enemies non-lethally for this express purpose… and Kawashi demonstrated that she wasn't fit to work here by defying that part of our code."

Karin paused to move around the desk. "Any more questions?"

"It's a little out there, and I'm not sure it's my place to ask, but yes."

Sarada fidgeted nervously as she tried to pick out the right words.

"Just spit it out, then!" Karin commanded with one hand on her hip, impatient.

"Yes, mam!"

Sarada instinctively rose from her chair and bowed her head. She then tried to relax and looked to the side, away from Karin's piercing glare as she proceeded to say what was on her mind:

"Well, you see… I was just wondering… Kawashi has pink hair like Sakumo and Mama… and you asked her if things would be different if you weren't her mom… Is it true? Are you not actually Kawashi's mom?"

"… Excuse me?"

Karin eyes started to twitch, the soft tone of her voice doing nothing to mask her incredulity.

"That's not all. You and I both wear glasses… and you spend a lot of time with Papa. You even told me how similar we are yourself… Are you… my real Mama?"

"What… the… fuck…"

Karin's voice had grown quiet, but her entire body started shaking with an intensity Sarada could not describe. Sarada glanced in Karin's direction and noticed her hair was flickering with a red light and standing on end. Before she could react, Sarada saw Karin vanish from where she was standing, and a shadow was now looming over her head.

The next moment, Sarada felt herself being pulled backward and swept off her feet, and when her feet landed again, the back of Sarada's head was being snuggled between a pair of deceptively sizable breasts while a pair of arms was wrapped around her torso, coming from above her shoulders.

"Just like your dad, you have a surprising knack for _idiocy_ , Sarada."

 _A Body Flicker?_ Sarada thought, coming to understand that Karin was hugging her from behind.

"You and Karasu are the same age! Were you seriously suggesting that I was carrying two different babies in me at the same time… with _different fathers?!_ That's fucking _**impossible**_ , you idiot!"

"Sorry!"

"And about my last words to Kawashi… I wasn't _remotely_ insinuating that! She has pink hair because my red mixed with Suigetsu's white… and my _point_ was that I wasn't _just_ her mother, but a _**superior officer**_ and someone who could have helped her out when she needed it! You can't do everything yourself after all, and when you can't accomplish something, _**you ask someone who can!**_ That's a lesson that _**all**_ ninja need to learn, Yatagarasu or otherwise! Kawashi shouldn't let her feelings for me and desire to be independent distract her from the _**objective**_ _ **merits**_ of asking for my help when she's on the job! That was my _**point**_ , Sarada…"

"Oh…"

Sarada was unsure how to reply. She wouldn't get a chance to, however, since Karin suddenly relaxed her grip on Sarada and spoke again, evidently regaining her composure.

"Say… Have you read _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi?_ " Karin asked in a voice decidedly softer than her previous rant. "It was written by the Hokage himself."

 _Wait… does she mean?!..._

After her moment of thinking, Sarada gave Karin an answer:

"No… but I'm going to start reading it today. As soon as I tell Mama what happened to Papa."

Karin let Sarada go and opened the door out of the office. "Then you should hurry along home. I think you'll like it very much." She smiled and winked, holding the door open.

"See you soon, Aunt Karin!" Sarada said as she rushed out the door and into the hallway.

[X-X-X]

So Sarada ran back home, excited to begin reading _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi._ She explained to Sakura what Karin had told her about Sasuke, and in exchange Sakura gave her a book written by the Hokage, and surely enough it was the very same _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi_ that Karin asked her about. Unable to wait any longer, Sarada promptly dashed into her room, lied down on her bed, and cracked the book open. She intended to skip the acknowledgements and head straight into the meat of the book, but a certain name caught her attention as she skimmed it over.

" _Karin Uzumaki?_ What does Aunt Karin have to do with Lord Seventh's book?" Sarada thought aloud. This discovery intrigued her, so she decided to read the acknowledgements in full. Within them, she learned that the story was largely inspired by Karin's own life.

 _Is that why Aunt Karin wanted me to read this? … Either way, I bet I'll learn a lot about her if I keep going!_

Eager to continue, Sarada kept reading. Eventually she made it to the story proper, but before even making it past the first page she had to put the book down. She was beginning to cry and she didn't want to damage it with her tears. She puller the covers over her head to muffle the sound of her crying.

"Mama… Papa… you guys are such dorks, Cha …" Sarada said under her breath.

The overwhelming emotions Sarada felt compelled her to get to sleep as quickly as she could, and to help the process, Sarada tried repeating a certain passage from _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi_ over and over again in her head, the one she couldn't read past:

' _What's your name?' a man asked me as I entered the bar. He had this dangerous look about him… like he could go ballistic at the slightest provocation. He wouldn't have the patience for my usual antics, so I gave it to him straight._

' _Sarada'._


	83. Epilogue 4: Snake's Search for the Truth

Sasuke was surprised to find the familiar streets of the Hidden Leaf Village vanish and be replaced with forest as far as his eyes could see in the blink of an eye. His confusion would be laid to rest, however, when he saw a man with sickly white skin and long black hair behind him from the corner of his vision as he turned around to check his surroundings.

"Orochimaru…"

The former Sannin smiled and waved. "Long time, no see, Sasuke. _So long_ in fact, that the little bird you gave me outgrew my hideout and forced me to build a nest for her outside. And my have _**you**_ gotten big too! Such big muscles you have! What kind of training did you do to get a figure like _that?!_ "

"You picked an awful time to summon me."

Orochimaru tilted his head with a sarcastic pout. "No I didn't. I _just_ finished writing my book, and now I've summoned you to pick it up. That was the deal, was it not?"

"Let's just get this over with."

Sasuke shrugged and turned to the centre entrance of Orochimaru's hideout, which lay just a few feet to the right of him. "The sooner we're done here, the sooner I can get back home… and apologize to my daughter for missing her graduation party."

"Oh! That _**is**_ cause for worry." Orochimaru grinned. "Why, she might get so upset she'll awaken the _Sharingan…_ wouldn't that be a sight?!"

Sasuke promptly gave Orochimaru the sharpest glare he could muster:

"Don't even _think_ about it. You lay a finger on my daughter, and I'll lay a finger on _you_ , got it?"

"Relax, would you?" Orochimaru raised his hands in the air in lieu of surrender. "It was a joke! I'm not so stupid as to deliberately incur the wrath of _Papa Sasuke…_ you know that!"

"Good."

Sasuke proceeded for the entrance without another word. Orochimaru followed after him.

Just before they reached the bottom of the stairwell and set foot in Orochimaru's hideout, Sasuke saw the completed book on top of a desk in the study area as expected, but he also noticed someone else sleeping on one of the beds. A boy with pale blue hair from the looks of things. The sight of this boy alarmed Sasuke and he froze in place, Orochimaru bumping into his back by accident as a result of the sudden stop.

"What's the meaning of -"

Orochimaru then noticed the same boy and his eyes lit with comprehension:

"… Oh, I haven't told you the good news yet, have I?"

"Who is he?" Sasuke asked while looking back to Orochimaru.

"Why, that is Mitsuki… _my child._ "

Orochimaru's declaration bewildered Sasuke into silence. Orochimaru anticipated Sasuke's reaction and responded by extending and curling his neck around the Uchiha to speak with him face to face.

"What are you so bewildered about, Sasuke? Life gets _so boring_ when you're all alone. One day I wanted to have a child, so I made one. He's almost twelve years old now… My, they grow up so fast…"

Sasuke looked past Orochimaru and at the sleeping Mitsuki. "How? How did you… make him?"

"If you want the details, then read my book. Why does it matter to you, anyway?"

"I'm asking for _your_ sake, not mine." Sasuke clarified, looking Orochimaru in the eyes again. "Fifteen years ago, creating artificial souls was outlawed internationally… and the punishment for committing it is _death._ If Mitsuki was created by some application of the Shin Shadow Clone Jutsu or Creation of All Things, then…"

"I make no guarantees about the _body_ , but the _soul_ is definitely all natural." Orochimaru said as he retracted his neck. "Now can we finish the trip to my study?"

"Alright… but I'll need some proof Mitsuki's soul is natural as you say. I just want to be sure. I don't want to put you to death before your time comes, but if it turns out you've made an artificial soul again, I _will_ take you in. I brought you back into this world, so it's my responsibility you aren't doing anything… evil, for lack of a better word."

"All the proof you need is _in my book_ , as I've already told you."

"Let's see it, then."

Sasuke resolutely nodded and continued down the spiral staircase with Orochimaru close behind, reaching the study in under a minute. When they arrived, Sasuke opened the book and noticed the title, which Orochimaru had apparently finalized.

' _A Snake's Search for the Truth' huh? Fitting, I suppose…_

After noting the title, Sasuke flipped through the pages until he reached the chapter dedicated to Mitsuki's creation. Once he was there, Sasuke activated the Shraingan in his right eye and then flipped through the pages once more, reading through the entire chapter in seconds. He took a little longer to scan them in his memories with the Sharingan, analyzing the procedure in detail. He also took note of the photos glued onto the pages at the end; apparently, Orochimaru took a picture of Mitsuki every birthday to chronicle his growth, and indeed, it seemed as though Mitsuki aged normally like any naturally-born human being. Sasuke turned to Orochimaru and sighed with relief when he discovered the photos:

"His soul is natural after all."

Sasuke turned back around, closed the book, and picked it up, tucking it under his arm.

"Guess I'll leave you two to your business, then…"

Sasuke was about to walk back to the spiral staircase, but before he make it there, a loud yawn caused him to stop in his tracks:

"Ahhh…"

Orochimaru swiftly slithered to his child's side. "Rise and shine, Mitsuki! We have a very special guest today… Say hello!" he said whilst pointing to Sasuke.

Mitsuki slowly rose from his bed, approached Sasuke, and gave him a salute. "Oh… Hello, sir. Who are you?"

Sasuke turned to face Mitsuki, trying his best to be gentle and courteous with him. "I'm-"

"This is Sasuke Uchiha, Mitsuki! He's… an _older brother_ of yours."

Sasuke's eye twitched. _Older brother, Orochimaru? But Mitsuki's even younger than Sarada…_

Mitsuki tilted his head in confusion. "I have an older brother? I thought…"

"You have many older siblings, Mitsuki! You're my child, and I raised many other children in the past, including Sasuke here. All who were my children are siblings in my book. And I think it's about time you _leave the nest_ and meet some of them!"

Sasuke was at a loss for words. "Wha…"

Orochimaru stood up and faced the Uchiha. "You heard right, Sasuke. Take Mitsuki back to the Hidden Leaf with you. Get him to meet his big siblings and other children around his own age. It's important for my child to form bonds with more than just his parent… He needs to get out and see the world!"

"I'm going away?" Mitsuki looked up to his parent, almost on the verge of tears. "Will I ever see you again?"

Orochimaru tightly embraced his child with one hand and stroked Mitsuki's hair with the other. "Don't you cry in front of your Big Brother Sasuke, now… And don't worry about me. No matter how far away your path takes you from now on, I'll always be watching over you. You'll never be completely alone."

"Thank you…"

Mitsuki returned Orochimaru's hug, then slowly broke away and walked to Sasuke's side. "Let's go the Hidden Leaf, Big Brother…"

"Try to call me _Uncle,_ please… At any rate, I know a place that's willing to take you in. It's even run by another 'big brother'."

Mitsuki motioned for Sasuke to walk up the spiral staircase first. "Lead the way, Big Brother…"

"You go on ahead and wait outside for Big Brother Sasuke." Orochimaru interjected, contrary to Mitsuki's expectations. "There's still something I need to speak with him about. An _adults-only_ thing."

"Oh! Then by all means!" Mitsuki promptly bowed and started up the spiral staircase. Once he was out of their sight, Sasuke turned to face Orochimaru again, confused.

"Our business is over with, Orochimaru. Make it quick."

"I just wanted to give you a word of warning before you leave, from the _goodness_ of my heart." Orochimaru sarcastically replied, pointing at his own book, _A Snake's Search for the Truth_. "You _**do**_ realize that, once my book goes public, people will no doubt come to use its contents for their own purposes, do you not? _The Way of Jashin_ gave rise to generations of chaos and villainy; _A Snake's Search for the Truth_ could very well do the same. What will you do if that happens?"

At that moment, Sasuke gave a confident smirk:

"Most people will think twice before using your book for anything criminal. They'll know that the only reason the book exists is because _I allow it to._ "

"Having a founder of the Yatagarasu's name right on the front cover, eh? Ho ho ho… Excellent _scare tactic_ , if I do say so myself. But what about those ambitious few who won't be swayed by your name alone?"

"I'll know everything in your book either way. If a criminal dares to use your methods, the Yatagarasu will be ready to stop them. You had the element of surprise with the Third Hokage and my father; your _imitators_ won't be so lucky."

"I'm looking forward to it all the same."

Orochimaru then slithered past Sasuke and motioned for him to leave the hideout the same way he came in. "Now then… take care of my child, Sasuke."

"Goodbye, Orochimaru."

After giving his farewell, Sasuke promptly left the hideout. As soon as he set foot outside, he heard the hatch close behind him; Orochimaru must have closed it on him. In no time, Sasuke found Mitsuki once more, sitting next to a tree. Once Mitsuki noticed Sasuke's emergence from the hideout, he stood up and walked over to him.

"How do we get to the Hidden Leaf, Big Brother?" Mitsuki asked.

"Argh, listen…"

Sasuke thought about correcting him, but quickly shook his head. "… Never mind. Do me a favour and hold your… parent's book for me, would you?"

"Certainly."

Mitsuki happily nodded, stretching his arms out to grab _A Snake's Search for the Truth_ out from under Sasuke's arm with his hands. "There. What do we do next?"

 _I suppose I should have expected that from Orochimaru's son…_

Sasuke was momentarily startled by Mitsuki's feat, but he quickly regained his composure. Now that his hand was free, Sasuke raised it up to his mouth and he bit his thumb. Then he slammed it on the ground. A gigantic cloud of white smoke appeared in front of him and Mitsuki on cue, and it dissipated to reveal a giant hawk just beginning to show signs of old age, with a four-person saddle on its back.

Sasuke approached the giant hawk and gently pet the top of her head. "Mitsuki… meet Odaka. This fastest way to travel is through the sky; Odaka will fly us back to the Hidden Leaf by this time tomorrow. She's getting old, but she's still strong enough for a few more flights. Thankfully, if what Orochimaru said was true, then Torichi should be right around the age to take Odaka's place on the Yatagarasu's Transport Hawk Platoon."

Sasuke paused to jump into the pilot's seat and grab the reins. "Hop in front with me."

"Yes, sir."

Mitsuki nodded and jumped into the shotgun seat, keeping a tight grip on _A Snake's Search for the Truth._ Once Mitsuki was secure, Odaka rose and began flying south at Sasuke's command.

[X-X-X]

The following day, Sasuke and Mitsuki arrived at the Hidden Leaf Village on Odaka around the same time they left Orochimaru's Hideout the previous day. Sasuke was initially surprised to find his family all waiting for him at the gate, but it then occurred to Sasuke that Karin must have sensed him coming back and alerted Sakura shortly afterwards.

When Sasuke and Mitsuki disembarked from Odaka, Sasuke had no time to cancel Odaka's summon before Sarada tearfully hugged him at the waist:

"Papa… welcome back!"

Sasuke pat his daughter on the head. "Sorry I couldn't make it…"

Sarada let Sasuke go to dry her tears. "It's not your fault, so don't apologize for it!"

"Excuse me, but…" Mitsuki interjected, looking right at Sarada, "… who are you?"

"Mitsuki… this is Sarada, my daughter." Sasuke said.

"Big Brother's daughter…" Mitsuki's eyes lit with wonder. "I guess that means I'm your _uncle_ , Sarada. Nice to meet you."

Sarada's eyes went blank with shock, made utterly speechless by the claim. "Uhh… what."

"Karin _did_ sense a chakra she didn't recognize coming back with you…" Sakura interjected, approaching them all whilst holding Sakumo. "And he's calling you 'Big Brother', dear? What's going on?"

"About that… how to put it…" Sasuke stumbled for the right words, cancelling Odaka's summon all the while. "We need to see Kabuto… another 'Big Brother' of his."

Sakura's eyes lit with comprehension. "I get it now… yeah, I do suppose Kabuto's _is_ the best place for him to stay."

Sarada tilted her head in confusion. "What are you talking about, Mama, Papa?"

"We'll tell you in detail next time."

As he said this, Sasuke crouched down to meet Sarada's eyes and presssed his index and middle fingers against her forehead. Afterward, he stood up and took _A Snake's Search for the Truth_ back from Mitsuki and began walking into the village. "Right now Mitsuki needs to see his new home… come on, then…"

At that moment, however, Sakura's phone began ringing, startling everyone present. Keeping Sakumo held close to her chest with one arm, Sakura pulled her phone out with the other and answered it, putting it to her ear.

"Hello?"

" _Sakura-chan! Is Sasuke back yet?_ " the caller responded. Sakura could tell immediately that it was the Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki.

"Yeah, he just returned. Do you want to speak to him? I can put him on the line."

" _Don't bother. I'll just see him in person. He needs to see something with his own eyes._ "

"I'll let him know right away. Cha!"

Sakura promptly ended the call and put her phone back in her pocket.

"What was that?" Sasuke asked Sakura.

"It's the Hokage… he wants to see you as soon as possible."

"But what about me?" Mitsuki wondered, beginning to pace in circles.

Sakura looked down at the boy with a gentle smile. "We'll show you to Kabuto's place instead, Mitsuki."

"I would appreciate it, umm…"

"My name is Sakura. I'm Sarada's mom. And the little one is Sakumo. He's Sarada's brother."

"I see… Then Sakumo-kun is my nephew."

Upon hearing Mitsuki's words, Sarada's and Sakura's eyes twitched while Sasuke looked away and continued walking.

"I'll just leave Mitsuki in your capable hands, then… I have a meeting with the Hokage." The Uchiha man said as he left.

"Mama, did Papa just… ditch us?" Sarada asked, deadpan.

"Your father still has some trouble around new people every now and then… I'm sure he didn't mean anything malicious by it. Anyway, we have to show Mitsuki to his new guardian. Let's go, Sarada."

[X-X-X]

When Sasuke arrived at the Hokage's office to meet Naruto's summons, Naruto showed him a scroll that had just arrived in the mail coming from the Land of Rain. He placed _A Snake's Search for the Truth_ down on Naruto's desk and read the scroll's contents, and once he was finished, he sat down across from Naruto and stomped his feet impatiently.

"What's with the scowl, Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "You get why I asked you to come here, right?"

"Jugo confirmed that he'll be coming along with Tenten and his daughter Tenchi. And they'll be at the battlefield three days after we receive this letter, three days from today. So what?"

Naruto jolted out of his seat at once:

" _So_ _what?!_ A friend you haven't seen in _years_ is coming to visit! Doesn't that matter to you?!"

"Of course it does. It's just that Karin or Suigetsu would have told me about it anyway. There was no need to personally summon me to get me this information. It's a waste of all our time, idiot."

"Sorry…"

Naruto sighed and sat back down in his chair. "I was just reacting in the heat of the moment… Actually, there's another reason I summoned you, Sasuke."

"Well, what is it?"

"I don't know if you learned this before I interrupted your reunion, but while you were gone, Sarada awakened the Sharingan."

Sasuke's eyes widened with shock.

"Your face tells me you didn't know yet…"

Sasuke shook his head. "Not just that. Orochimaru _predicted_ this would happen. Looking back, the way he spoke about her… It's as if Orochimaru actively _wanted_ Sarada to awaken the Sharingan."

Naruto started sweating. "Then Karin's fears might have been realized after all…"

"Don't tell me…" Sasuke bit his lip, realizing the implications. "Karin's afraid that Orochimaru might try to take Sarada's body while Suigetsu and B are fighting…!"

"You're too strong for Orochimaru to handle, but Sarada's still weak. Even if Karin, Jugo, Tenten, and Konohamaru are there, they can't keep the kids safe from the battle _and_ from Orochimaru at the same time. We'll need _you_ there to do that."

"Hn." Sasuke started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Orochimaru just told me yesterday that he wouldn't dare ' _incur the wrath of Papa Sasuke_ '. And I have a feeling he isn't lying about that. He doesn't even need a Sharingan to learn every technique anymore considering who his most recent host is."

" _White Zetsu …_ Of course! He can copy anyone down to the chakra, and by consequence learn _all their techniques_ , just by absorbing a bit of their chakra! And Orochimaru would already have access to _everyone White Zetsu ever absorbed…_ He won't take any more bodies because he'll need an eternity _**just to study his current one!**_ "

"Exactly."

Naruto began a faint laugh. "Huh… maybe your protection won't be necessary after all."

"I never said I wasn't coming along regardless." Sasuke said as he stood up, picked up _A Snake's Search for the Truth_ , and turned around for the door. "I just need to find someone other than Karin to fill in for me. That shouldn't be too hard to do in two days, giving the group one day to travel there…"

"One day?! I was going to send everyone away as soon as we were done here… it'd take three days to get to Turtle Island's shell on foot at normal speed!"

" _On foot_ , yes." Sasuke looked behind himself to Naruto and smirked. "You're forgetting who you're talking to here. Don't you know that all Yatagarasu units are deployed on _transport hawks?_ "

Naruto's eyes widened. "Oh… I get it now! Yeah… let's do that! You, Karin, Suigetsu, and Team Konohamaru… That makes seven travelers in total. There's more than enough room on two transport hawks!"

"Actually… we can fit one more, and there's a certain someone I'd like to invite on the trip. He _did_ say to introduce him to his siblings and to children his own age… Sakura should have brought him to the orphanage by now."

"I guess I can get the details from her or Kabuto later…" Naruto sighed as he slumped back into his chair and began filing paperwork. "Right now we both have other business to attend to…"

"Yeah," Sasuke nodded in agreement and then left the Hokage's office. As the Uchiha kept walking down the hall, only this thought was on his mind:

 _First, this book needs publishing… then,_ _my replacement._


	84. Epilogue 5: Converging Blades

"Once again, I can't thank you enough for covering for us while we're gone."

Sasuke was bowing to his substitute just outside Yatagarasu headquarters. Karin was stomping her feet impatiently next to him, anxious to get to the village gate by dawn.

"Please do not mention it, Sasuke." The substitute replied with a salute and a wry smile. "It is an honour to be chosen as your replacement, even if for just a few days. That being said, to be frank, I feel that your choosing me is one big _practical joke…_ after all, I was chosen to be your replacement on Team Seven as well."

"That's _your_ sense of humour talking, Sai, not mine. I chose you because I think that you can handle the job the best out of all of Yatagarasu's squad leaders."

"Come on, Sasuke!" Karin interjected. "We're going to be late!"

"… See you soon, Sai." Sasuke said as he waved goodbye at Karin's behest and turned around, walking away.

"Farewell."

Sai waved back briefly before turning around himself, into Yatagarasu's headquarters.

[X-X-X]

Meanwhile, at Karin's household…

"Dad, wake up!"

Karasu screamed into Suigetsu's ear. The latter was lying down in his and Karin's shared bed, gripping the edge of the blanket like a sword in his sleep. Upon Karasu's yell, Suigetsu shot out of bed and swung the bedding in Karasu's direction. The Genin was smacked in the right cheek with fabric before he could blink. Suigetsu opened his eyes moments after that, and woke to find his son sitting on the floor, holding his cheek in pain.

"Karasu? … What happened to you? And what time is it?!" Suigetsu asked, alarm filling his voice as he kneeled down to check on his son.

Karasu got up with Suigetsu's help. "It's 5:30 in the morning… Mom went to work early to show the Sub the ropes. And you hit me… in your sleep… with the blanket… I must be _some_ weakling, huh…"

"Maybe I'm just that damn strong…" Suigetsu said while letting Karasu go to put on the closest sleeveless shirt he could find in his room, then the belts that lay on the desk beside his bed. "Anyway, today's the day. Shit… I've got to get ready!"

"That's why I woke you! We're going to be late if we don't get a move on! Kawashi and Sangetsu are at the door waiting to see us out!"

"You go on ahead, then. Tell Kawashi to be a good big sister and look after Sangetsu while Mom and Dad are out. I'll need a few minutes to get ready."

"Okay Dad… but you better be on time! You're the _client_ , after all!"

With those words, Karasu ran out of his parents' bedroom.

[X-X-X]

Half an hour later, at the Hidden Leaf Village Gate…

Konohamaru looked into the village for any signs of the others. "It's about time… where is everyone?" he asked.

"Yeah… Papa and Aunt Karin aren't here yet…" Sarada added.

"Forget _them!_ " Boruto exclaimed, his arms crossed and his head tilted away in indignation. "Where's Karasu, our _teammate?!_ Or his dad… our _**client!**_ "

As if on cue, Karasu rushed out of the gate at that instant, briefly stunning his team into silence:

"Sorry I'm late!"

"Karasu!" Boruto and Sarada said in unison.

"Dad's going to be a few minutes…" Karasu paused to catch his breath, "And I sensed Mom and Uncle Sasuke on my way here… They're picking up a guest. I think Mom told me his name was Mitsuki…"

Sarada let out a dejected sigh. "So Mitsuki really _**is**_ coming too… Ugh…"

Boruto raised an eyebrow. "You know him, Sarada?"

"Yeah…" Sarada hung her shoulders. "He's… creepy. That's the first word that comes to mind."

"As creepy as _Shino-Sensei?_ " Karasu asked with a challenging grin.

" _Creepier._ And he's a kid our age, too; Shino-Sensei's a grown man."

Boruto started sweating. "That _is_ creepy…"

"Speak of the devil." Karasu's eyes began watering with fear. "Mom and Uncle Sasuke are approaching… with a _real creepy chakra_ alongside them. And it's small… a kid like us."

Within a minute of Karasu detecting them, Sasuke, Karin, and Mitsuki arrived at Team Konohamaru's position just outside the gate. It was then that Sarada noticed Karin was wearing a different outfit than when they met at Yatagarasu headquarters. She was now wearing a form-fitting violet long-sleeved shirt, yellow short shorts, and more standard sandals, exposing most of her legs. Furthermore, Karin's hair was let down to her waist and her headband was gone.

"You look different, Aunt Karin…" said Sarada.

"You just saw me in uniform! I can wear whatever I want when I'm _off duty_ , you know!"

"At any rate… Suigetsu hasn't come here yet?" Sasuke interjected.

Karasu shook his head. "No… Dad said he needed some time to get ready."

"In the meantime, why don't you introduce yourselves?" Karin proposed with a smile as she grabbed Mitsuki's right wrist and Karasu's left, and then put their hands on top of each other. "Part of your mission is to make friends, so get to it!"

Karasu was the first to introduce himself.

"Oh! … I'm Karasu Uzumaki! I'm the first-born son and second-born child of Suigetsu Hozuki and Karin Uzumaki. Nice to meet you!"

Mitsuki looked into Karasu's eyes, perplexed. "Intriguing… If Mr. Hozuki is a Big Brother, and Lady Karin is a Big Sister… then you are a product of _incest!_ And with no visible deformities too! Your siblings must not be so lucky!"

Karasu's eye suddenly twitched with disgust:

"What the hell? What sort of _monster_ raised you to give you such a twisted mind?!"

"My parent is no monster, Karasu-kun! He is a _legendary hero_ to the Hidden Leaf, whose research will become _the foundation of a new era!_ "

"Crazy scientist… got it. Don't need to know any more details. As long as they didn't kidnap or murder people for the sake of their research or experiment on babies I don't think I'll have a problem. What's your name?"

"Mitsuki. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Boruto Uzumaki!" Boruto interjected, shaking Mitsuki's free hand. "My parents are -"

"I already know who you're related to. Everyone does." Mitsuki bluntly stated as he turned his focus to Boruto. "The _dumbest Kage in ninja history_ and the Hyuga woman who married him for _god knows what reason._ "

"Hey! That's Lord Seventh and Lady Hinata you're talking about, Mitsuki!" Sarada protested.

"That's _Uncle_ Mitsuki to you, Sarada."

The young Uchiha crossed her arms and looked away. "Whatever."

"Uncle business aside, I like the cut of your jib, Mitsuki!" Boruto said with a smile. "You're one of the only people I know that doesn't walk on eggshells about Dad just because he's the Hokage… I like that about you!"

Mitsuki returned Boruto's smile. "Glad to hear it. I look forward to discovering something I can like about you, Boruto-kun."

"At least _one of them_ likes him…" Karin whispered to Sasuke, making sure the children couldn't overhear her.

"Give it time." Sasuke whispered back. "I'm sure Sarada and Karasu will warm up to him eventually… once Mitsuki learns some manners, at any rate…"

"Finally! He's coming!"

Konohamaru pointed inside the gate at someone running toward them as he spoke.

Karasu turned away from the other children to see this person, having sensed him on his way. "Dad!"

"Darling!" Karin spun around to face him in turn, excitedly waving to him. The others followed their lead just in time for Suigetsu to cross the gate. As soon as Suigetsu arrived, he cracked his knuckles in anticipation of the start of the trip:

"The party can start now, guys!"

It was then that Boruto realized what the belts were for. Suigetsu placed one large sword at his back and two smaller, very thin ones at his waist, one on each side. The larger one Boruto recognized; it appeared in a photo of his father's team after their first C-Rank mission. The smaller ones, however, were a mystery.

"We still need to figure out how we're going to split up." said Konohamaru. "The plan is to get to Turtle Island's shell by noon tomorrow on two transport hawks, four of us per hawk. Who's going with whom?"

"I have a suggestion!" Mitsuki raised his hand. "Sarada, Boruto-kun, and Karasu-kun are a team led by Konohamaru-Sensei, yes? All four could be on one hawk, while I travel with my siblings!"

"That's out of the question, Mitsuki." said Sasuke.

"Why not, Big Brother?"

"Because Sasuke and I will be on different hawks." Karin answered with a smirk.

Before Mitsuki could ask for details, Karin cut into right palm with her left index finger and slammed said palm into the ground away from them, conjuring a giant hawk just as Sasuke did several days ago. This one was visibly younger, however. Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki dropped their jaws in shock, and Konohamaru also raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Sarada stared at the hawk with wonder. "You can _**summon**_ , Aunt Karin?!"

"Of course! Sasuke and I are the _joint leaders_ of the Yatagarasu; when we decided that our platoons would travel by hawk, your Papa over here had me enter a contract with them too!"

"So who's travelling with Karin, and who's with me?" Sasuke asked the group.

"I want to be with Mom!" Karasu was the first to answer, skipping over to Karin's spot and hugging her at the waist, burying his head in her chest.

"I'll be on your mom's side too, Karasu!" Suigetsu added, rubbing the back of Karasu's head during his hug. "It'd defeat the purpose of your mission if we didn't bond on the way!"

"Then you're both going in the back!" Karin said, gently pushing Karasu away while looking at Suigetsu. "If you're not beside each other, then I'm going to distract one of you."

At that point, Karin walked a little ways past her husband and son and looked the rest over. "So who else wants to ride with me?" she asked.

After a few seconds of deliberation, Sarada raised her hand:

"Umm… I will! Sorry, Papa…"

She bowed her head before Sasuke and ran over to Karin.

"She's taken quite a liking to you, Karin…" Sasuke remarked, his compliment doing little to hide his disappointment.

Mitsuki stroked his chin. "Hmm… Perhaps this is retribution for missing Sarada's graduation party, Big Brother?"

 _Stop calling me that…_

Sasuke grabbed his head in torment. He held his head for a few seconds, but soon brought his hand down to his mouth and bit his thumb, summoning Odaka next to Karin's hawk. "At any rate, you're coming with me, Boruto, Mitsuki, Konohamaru."

"Yay!" Boruto jumped for joy. "Let's sit beside each other, Mitsuki!"

"Certainly!"

Mitsuki promptly launched himself into one of Odaka's back seats. Boruto quickly followed suit.

"I guess I have no choice, then…"

After those words, Konohamaru dejectedly got into shotgun in front of Boruto.

Sasuke silently got into the pilot's seat after confirming that Karin's group had also taken their seats. Once Sasuke got into position, he and Karin looked each other's way and nodded simultaneously, and on cue the hawks took off at the same time, flying south side by side.

[X-X-X]

It took until the following morning for the two hawks to reach Turtle Island's shell, the location chosen for Suigetsu and Killer B's battle. As they began to soar over the island…

"Hah!"

Tenchi was rushing at her mother yet again at the base of the Falls of Truth, both wielding a sickle. Tenchi had arrived with her parents the previous night, and there was some time to kill before Sasuke's group would arrive. During that time, Jugo decided to meditate under the Falls of Truth with Killer B, while Tenten and Tenchi sparred with sickles – Hanzo's signature weapon.

Since awakening Salamander Sage Mode, Tenchi took an interest in Hanzo and wanted her mother to teach her how to use a sickle to better emulate him. Now that they'd stopped moving, Tenchi had the opportunity to test the weapon out for herself. She hoped that she would be as naturally gifted with the sickle as she was with Sage Mode, but unfortunately, she was not having as much success; Tenten blocked or avoided every last one of her daughter's strikes. This time would be no different, as Tenten effortlessly parried Tenchi's incoming attack and spun behind her in a single motion, knocking her to the ground face-first with the back of the sickle and causing Tenchi to at last drop her own sickle, the weapon vanishing in a puff of smoke as it hit the ground.

"Sorry, Tenchi… I win again." Tenten said, pinning her down in a soft hold to seal the victory. Tenchi conceded by responding with a tap to Tenten's thigh, and afterward the two sat up together, with Tenten making her own sickle vanish.

Tenchi looked down at her hands. They started to shake with disappointment.

"What am I doing wrong, Mother?"

"You keep over-extending on your swings. I can tell by the way your feet and hands move. You're trying to compensate for being shorter than me - and having less reach by default - by swinging farther. But that's tiring you out, and _leaving you open_ to boot. Any experienced enemy is going to notice those weaknesses immediately and capitalize on them like I did."

"But if I do everything the same way you do them, then you're going to win by having longer reach…"

"That can't be helped right now… you're still a growing girl!" Tenten rebutted with a smile. "You're not doing yourself any favours comparing yourself to an adult… You need to find a rival around your age that you can grow stronger with!"

"A rival around my age…"

Tenchi looked up, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "If that was so important, then why did you and Father pull me out of -"

Tenchi's train of thought came to a halt when she saw a pair of hawks descending overhead. On instinct, Tenchi quickly stood up and turned around, heading for the Falls of Truth, where her father and Killer B were still sitting.

" _ **Father! Grandpa B! They're here!**_ "

Tenchi screamed as loudly as she could so that the men could hear her over the rapid current of the waterfall. Both of them heard her clearly, since they stood up and left the waterfall simultaneously. Jugo went to his daughter's side, and B headed for the mound at the centre of the pond, while both looked up just in time to see the hawks land nearby. At the same time as the eight travellers disembarked, Tenten stood up and waved hello.

Karin broke away from the group and rushed straight for Jugo. "How's it going, you guys?! It's been so long since we've all been together!"

"Sure has!" Tenten shouted, cutting off Karin's path and pointing at her with one hand while the other was on her hip and her eyes were blank with rage. "What gives you the right to act all cheery about it, when you or Sasuke was always away on a big case every time we stopped by for a visit?!"

"Can't you just admit you're happy to see me?"

Tenten gasped. "What… No violent outburst?"

"I already get angry enough _back home_ , thank you very much."

Karin crossed her arms and looked back to her husband, first with scorn, but her expression quickly changed to a relaxed smile:

"Right now I just want to say hi to friends I haven't seen in a while, be a good role model for the kids… and watch my beloved husband accomplish his life-long dream. So let's all have a good time, okay?!"

"Gotcha."

Tenten gave an agreeing nod and stepped aside. At that moment, the rest of Karin's group caught up to her and Jugo was slowly approaching them with Tenchi just behind him. B stayed put, drying himself off.

When Sasuke and the others met back up with Karin, Boruto, Sarada, Karasu, and Mitsuki noticed the other child, who was nervously hiding behind Jugo.

 _Who is that?_ Karasu thought.

"Tenchi… come on, say hello." Jugo instructed, motioning for her to step forward and introduce herself. Tenchi reluctantly complied, awkwardly stepping out of her father's shadow and in front of the other children, who looked at her with curious eyes. Tenchi could barely get her voice above a whisper:

"Um… Hi… My name is Tenchi… Nice to meet you all…"

"Nice to meet you too, Tenchi. I'm Sarada." The young Uchiha said with a reserved smile.

"My name's Boruto!" the blond Uzumaki added.

"I'm Ka-"

"And you have _**horns!**_ "

Mitsuki suddenly leaned in to get a closer look, which prompted Tenchi to turn away unnerved. "How did you get them, Tenchi-chan? Were you born with them? Are they the product of some jutsu? Did you kill something and glue its remains to your head?"

"Tenchi was born with them." Jugo answered in Tenchi's place, his daughter too distressed to answer.

"Born with them, huh…"

Mitsuki stroked his chin inquisitively, and stopped when he reached a conclusion:

"Ah ha! Tenchi-chan must not be entirely human! The horns are a mark of her hidden bestial nature!"

In response to Mitsuki's loudly declared conclusion, Tenchi began crying and ran back behind Jugo in fear.

"Please… stop talking about my daughter's horns." Jugo pleaded, looking down at Mitsuki in particular. "She was bullied mercilessly in the academy because of them. We had to pull her out after she lost control the first time, but her transformations only made it worse. She was no longer just the subject of gossip among the school, but the entire village. She hasn't had much contact with others her age since -"

"That has to change, Uncle Jugo!"

Karasu's interruption startled everyone present, the girl behind Jugo most of all.

"Tenchi has to face her fears head-on sooner or later!" Karasu added. "I get what you're trying to do, protecting her from the scum in the world, but if Tenchi doesn't stand up for herself, then she'll keep cowering behind you and she'll never grow up! You won't be there forever, and the _moment_ you're gone, the world is going to eat Tenchi up for breakfast! Are you listening, Tenchi?!"

"Y-yes?"

Karasu held his chest with his right hand. "Come on out and get even with Mitsuki! I felt your chakra on the way down here… It was stronger than this! It was burning with a determination I can't even describe! That _fire…_ you've got to unleash it now, when you need it most! Otherwise you're never going to be anything more than the _animal_ Mitsuki thinks you are!"

"I… you're right."

Tenchi nodded resolutely, gaining a burst in confidence. After a brief moment of agitation, Tenchi went completely still. Within a minute she entered Salamander Sage Mode and showed herself to the others, staring Mitsuki down with the sharpest glare she could manage with her widened black eyes. Mitsuki's elated curiosity was quickly overcome with nerves, and his eyes began to twitch. Karasu, meanwhile, smiled pleasantly at the display.

"Mitsuki-kun… I am no _beast_ , or anything of the sort." Tenchi said. "I am a _Sage_ , the first _Salamander Sage_ in history. And you'd best remember it."

"Ah… I see. My apologies."

Mitsuki bowed his head in reverence, but an amused grin crept onto his face all the while. "Sage, yes… Your father and Big Brother Kabuto looked different, so I believed you to be something else. By the way…" he paused to become still, utterly shocking everyone present, adult and child alike, when purple markings surrounded his eyes and four white, scaly horns erupted from his head:

"… as you can see, Tenchi-san, I'm a Sage too."

Boruto's jaw dropped. "You're a _Sage_ , Mitsuki?!"

"Obviously," Mitsuki shrugged. "My parent tried to acquire it but failed, and children naturally _surpass their parents_ given enough time."

"Mitsuki-kun." Tenchi interjected, attracting his attention. "Become my rival."

Mitsuki tilted his head in confusion. "Rival? Why would I have need of a rival? No one my age is anywhere near as strong as me."

Boruto, Sarada, and Karasu all started to sweat in response to Mitsuki's remark.

"How can you know that for sure, Mitsuki-kun?" Tenchi asked. "I know that look in your eyes. It's the same as mine… one that's been sheltered and kept away from the world outside. You haven't fought anyone your age yet, and neither have I. Also, can you in good conscience claim that you're the strongest when you see a fellow Sage around your age _right in front of you?_ "

"My parent always said that _conscience_ isn't necessary for life. If you're weak, then it keeps you from getting strong. And if you're strong, then you get to decide what right and wrong is anyway because no one has the power to stop you."

 _He's Orochimaru's kid alright…_ Sasuke thought with dread.

"That being said, whether I am _confident_ in my claim or not…" Mitsuki made a dopey smile, "… I must confess that I don't have the evidence to confirm my theory. So I will be happy to indulge your request of rivalry, Tenchi-san… if only to prove myself superior."

"That will do, Mitsuki-kun."

Tenchi lightly bowed her head, and then walked up to Karasu and offered a handshake. "As for you… thank you for saving me… Uhh…"

"The name's Karasu!" he said as he took the handshake in stride.

 _Karasu… that's! … And it's the boy who saved me?!_

Tenchi's face suddenly went completely red.

"What's wrong, Tenchi?!" Karasu asked with alarm, moving his free hand to check her face. "Do you have a fever? Is it the horns?! They're actually _really_ _cute_ as far as I care!"

 _CUTE?!_

Tenchi promptly collapsed, pulling herself out of Sage Mode and falling into Karasu's arms.

"Umm… Mom! I think something's wrong with Tenchi! Can we postpone Dad's match until she's okay?!"

There's nothing wrong with her, my boy!" Suigetsu interjected, cutting through the other children to make his way to Karasu's side, patting him on the shoulder. "You just scored yourself a girlfriend! And a one-in-a-million cutie at that! Way to go, son!"

Karasu looked up to his father in a panic, trying to keep Tenchi's unconscious body steady despite his own intensifying nerves. "Dad?!"

"Anyway… it's about time you kids gave us some space." Suigetsu's voice calmed and hardened as he stood up and turned to face Killer B, who had just finished drying himself. "The _big boys_ are going to throw down now."

"So you really do want this mighty tool. Let's see whether that's an act of a fool."

Killer B had spoken up for the first time since Suigetsu and the others arrived, reaching behind his right shoulder to grab Samehada's hilt with his right hand.

"Alright! The battle's about to start!" Konohamaru interjected. He promptly moved several metres away and raised his right hand for everyone to see. "Boruto, Sarada, Mitsuki, come over here! Karasu, you bring Tenchi with you!"

"Yes, Sensei!" Boruto, Sarada, and Karasu said in unison. The former two ran to their instructor's side alongside Mitsuki while Karasu walked toward Konohamaru, carrying Tenchi piggy-back.

Tenten pumped her fists and ran toward Konohamaru with a gleam in her eyes. "This is going to be fun!"

After that, only Taka and Killer B remained near the Waterfall of Truth. Suigetsu and B stood back to back on the mound in the centre while Sasuke, Karin, and Jugo stood beside each other, facing Suigetsu and B with their backs to the waterfall.

"You remember the rules you agreed upon before coming here?" Jugo asked rhetorically. "This is a battle to take the sword at each other's backs. Suigetsu, if you manage to disarm Killer B or knock him out long enough to pick up Samehada, then you win. Likewise, if Killer B acquires Kubikiribocho, then he wins. This entire island is the battlefield; leaving the island is equivalent to admitting defeat, but otherwise you can go anywhere you like. You may also use any techniques or other weapons you have at your disposal to win, but as this is _**not**_ a death match, going for vital spots with lethal force and using techniques designed _only_ to kill are expressly forbidden without the opposition's consent. That being said, each of you gets _one time-out_ to ask for that permission. During that time, the opponent must stop to hear their request and accept or deny it; attacking during a time-out is cheating and grounds for disqualification. Is all this clear?"

"I _wrote_ those rules, so no shit." said Suigetsu.

"And I said whee, when the letter came to me!" B added.

"I'll heal whoever needs it when the battle is over," said Karin.

"And I'll be keeping all the spectators safe inside my Susano'o," Sasuke continued, "So don't be afraid of going all-out."

"Oh, and I'm going to be keeping real good track of your chakra too!" Karin added. "If _all traces of your chakra_ disappear from the vicinity of the island, then you'll be ruled out of bounds! I'll know; the whole island is within my range!"

Karin then stepped out of line, approached Suigetsu, and pecked him on the cheek.

"Kick his ass!"

Karin left Suigetsu with those parting words before quickly running off toward Konohamaru, Tenten, and the children.

"I think that's my cue to get back. Good luck, Suigetsu." Sasuke added, following Karin.

In response, Jugo looked in the direction of the children and found that his daughter was waking up. _Good… she's not going to miss it._

"Suigetsu, Killer B, take fifteen paces away from each other, parallel to the Waterfall of Truth, then turn around. That will be your starting position." Jugo instructed. Suigetsu and B nodded in compliance, doing as they were told. When they turned around, they found that Jugo had flown up to the top of the waterfall and were looking down at them. He soon began shouting down so that both the fighters and the audience could hear him:

"I'll be watching from the sky above for any signs of cheating! When I come back down, the match will be over! And when I take off…"

Anticipating what Jugo would say next, Sasuke enveloped himself and all the spectators huddled next to him in a shroud of dark purple chakra, which quickly expanded into a colossal tengu with the Yata Mirror in its right hand and the Totsuka Blade in its left.

"… _**Begin!**_ "

At that moment, Jugo took off from the summit of the Falls of Truth, his wings expelling four trails of red exhaust. That signalled the commencement of the fight, and in that very instant Suigetsu and B snapped their focus away from Jugo and onto each other.


	85. Epilogue 6: One's Own Happiness

B was the one who made the first move. Blue lightning surrounded B's right arm and at the same time, he launched himself at Suigetsu with the arm raised to his shoulders' height. He was angled in such a way that his arm would connect with Suigetsu's right shoulder.

Sasuke silently smirked. _A Lariat right off the bat, B?_

"Lightning Style?!" Karasu shouted. "That's Dad's weakness… he's toast!"

"Keep watching." Konohamaru commanded, pointing at the fight.

Karasu gulped with apprehension, but followed his sensei's instructions. He saw Suigetsu sidestep to his right while also drawing the sword at his left hip with his right hand, pivoting counter-clockwise to keep facing B as he passed by, successfully dodging B's attempt at a Lariat. Before B went far enough to expose his back, however, he too pivoted counter-clockwise, lowering his right arm while raising his prosthetic left, and swung at Suigetsu again with an electrified Lariat. Suigetsu avoided it once again, this time by sidestepping to his left and pivoting clockwise while drawing the sword at his right hip with his left hand. Suigetsu tried to counter-attack by swinging his right sword horizontally, but B managed to avoid it by spinning clockwise himself, then promptly making several backflips to his starting position. B was back where he started, while Suigetsu now wielded two blades, each one, Karasu observed, surrounded by a ring of blue lightning.

"He… he dodged them!" said Karasu.

"And what are those _swords_ he's using?!" Boruto asked.

" _Sword_ , you mean." Tenten remarked. "That's the Kiba, one of the Seven Swords of the Mist! The two blades are part of a whole, meant to work together, and they have control over _electricity!_ "

"Electricity… then…!" Karasu gasped with awe.

At that moment, Karin gave Karasu a confident smile:

"Yep… Daddy overcame his weakness!"

"If you were paying careful attention, you'd notice that Suigetsu didn't just dodge B's Lariats." Sasuke added. "He also swung the Kiba close enough to draw B's lighting away each time. You'd think that B would have the inherent advantage in this match-up, specializing in Lightning Style while Suigetsu's weak to it, but Suigetsu found a way to turn that _completely on its head._ "

"So Lord B cannot use Lightning Style without making Big Brother Suigetsu _stronger_ now… I see." Mitsuki nodded with a wry smile.

Meanwhile, B stroked his beard, staring down Suigetsu and the Kiba. "This is a real pickle… Hate to be so fickle, but Imma still make you tickle!"

He then suddenly drew two short swords with red hilts from his waist, charged both with lightning, and threw them at Suigetsu one shortly after the other. Suigetsu reacted by striking them with the Kiba one at a time. The Kiba deflected B's short swords in opposite directions, the first one to the left near the Waterfall of Truth, and the second to the right. The Kiba attracted even more lightning, now with two rings on each blade. Suigetsu smirked when the exchange concluded and began charging for B.

Suigetsu went for stabs to both shoulders, but moments before Suigetsu could connect, B vanished in a puff of white smoke. In the next second, he heard the sound of metal falling to the ground right in front of him.

 _So he used the Substitution Jutsu with one of his own weapons…_ _And they were in opposite directions… what do I do here?_

As Suigetsu was thinking about his course of action, he suddenly heard a voice:

"With a brilliant mind, I'll get you from behind!"

The voice belonged to Killer B, and it seemed to come from Suigetsu's left. Suigetsu instinctively turned to his left and headed for the waterfall, but before he could take more than one step he felt a tingle down his spine and saw a shadow looming over him from behind.

Mitsuki shrugged. "Well, that turned around quickly. Lord B substituted with the sword to the right, _threw his voice_ to make it appear as though he went to the left, and then used the Body Flicker to get behind Big Brother Suigetsu… The battle is pretty much over. All Lord B needs to do is touch Kubikiribocho and he's won. What a shame."

In stark contrast to Mitsuki's declaration, however, Sasuke and Karin grinned. The reason would become apparent to Mitsuki in the next moment, for when B attempted to grab Kubikiribocho off Suigetsu's back, the latter's entire body turned into a puddle - save the hands holding the Kiba - causing Kubikiribocho to dip below B's reach. B Looked down, pondering the situation briefly before another pair of hands emerged from the puddle to grab Kubikiribocho's hilt and the Kiba pierced the short sword near the puddle, destroying it beyond use. In the corner of B's eye he saw the other Kiba try to swing at his legs, which B managed to barely avoid by jumping backward.

In the time it took for B to land, Suigetsu solidified, but now with a second pair of arms protruding in front of his shoulders, wielding Kubikiribocho alongside the Kiba.

"Enough _warm ups_ , old man!" Suigetsu taunted as without taking his eyes off B, he shot the two rings of lightning on the right Kiba into the Waterfall of Truth, and right into B's other sword, destroying that one as well.

"Since when could Dad grow _extra limbs?_ " Karasu asked in awe.

"He's been able to do that for quite a while, Karasu." said Karin. "He's always been able to use the water inside his body to manipulate his shape. He used to just buff himself up, but he's gotten more _creative_ with it over the years."

"Why is that, Aunt Karin?" asked Sarada.

"You'll see the reason soon enough." Sasuke assured her, pointing at his own right eye. "If you're watching with the Sharingan, that is."

At her father's suggestion, Sarada activated her Sharingan and watched the two fighters closely.

At that moment, Suigetsu lunged at B with Kubikiribocho held out in front and the Kiba behind him. During the charge, Suigetsu raised Kubikiribocho and went for an overhead slice. B reacted by pulling out Samehada with his right hand and blocking Kubikiribocho right before it could connect. The force of Suigetsu's swing, however, was so great that one hand wasn't enough to block Kubikiribocho entirely, and B was forced to grab Samehada with his left hand as well to keep himself from being disarmed.

"Last time you faced this sword, you could block it with your _bare hands!_ " Suigetsu remarked during the deadlock. "Has old age really set in already?"

"I'm no old fart yet! You're just hella strong. When our eyes met, that was my bet!"

"Good."

Suigetsu suddenly grinned:

"That means these past three years weren't a waste of time!"

While Kubikiribocho and Samehada remained in a stalemate, Suigetsu began rapidly stabbing B in the arms with the Kiba. Sasuke and Sarada could follow the movements thanks to the Sharingan, but the others could only see B's arms getting steadily redder and a blur of steel next to both of them while B struggled to hold onto Samehada.

Sarada gulped in horror at the sight. "Oh god… this is brutal! Why doesn't Uncle Jugo stop the fight?! Losing this much blood is…!"

"Suigetsu hasn't broken any rules." Sasuke pointed out. "They're banned from _going at vitals with lethal force._ The _arms_ aren't vital organs. I suspect that Suigetsu wrote the rules specifically so that what he's doing now wouldn't be a violation of them."

"But what about Grandpa B?!" Tenchi asked in a panic. "Why doesn't he try to break away?!"

"He can't." Tenten said. "With the injuries he's sustained now, there's no way he can escape the clash with Kubikiribocho without letting go of Samehada and giving Suigetsu the win. The only way for B to win this now is to hold onto Samehada as long as he can and outlast Suigetsu's assault."

"Outlast? But that implies Big Brother Suigetsu will not keep this up for very long." Mitsuki inferred.

"And you'd be right about that." Karin confirmed, confusing Mitsuki. "Both his second pair of arms and using Kiba as lightning rods requires a constant outpouring of chakra. And Samehada _eats_ chakra. As long as Kubikiribocho and Samehada are in contact, the chakra in Suigetsu's second pair of arms will be absorbed by Samehada, and eventually those arms are going to burst and Suigetsu will drop Kubikiribocho. Of course, that's _also_ part of the plan." She concluded with a smile.

"Yeah… Suigetsu acquired Kubikiribocho three years ago when he defeated the Sixth Hokage." Sasuke added. "And since then, he's been training every day…"

"… to use Kubikiribocho and Kiba at the same time!" Suigetsu exclaimed as he kept stabbing B's arms. "My brother could use all the Seven Swords of the Mist before he checked out, but not even he could use _**two of them at once!**_ "

As the blade lock continued, Suigetsu's second pair of arms became harder and harder to maintain. But the injuries to B's arms were also taking their toll, and B was the first of the two to show signs of fatigue. B was moments away from losing his grip on Samehada, and on instinct Killer B did the one thing he thought to do at a time such as this:

" _ **Rhymes on a dime! Time!**_ "

Suigetsu's stabs came to a screeching halt in response to B's voice. Both of them sheathed their larger swords and gave each other a moment's reprieve, during which time Suigetsu also retracted his second pair of arms.

"Calling _time-out_ on me just to escape from defeat?" Suigetsu chuckled. "Maybe I should have been a bit more precise."

"You got it all wrong! I got _another reason_ for my song. Will you let _Gyuki_ tag along?"

"You want to summon Gyuki? Hmm…"

Suigetsu sheathed the Kiba and stroked his chin. After a few seconds of deliberation, Suigetsu nodded and looked B in the eyes again:

"Back when we first fought, you had Gyuki as your partner. It wouldn't really feel right kicking your ass when you're not at your best, so sure, go ahead. Summon him and I'll take you both down!"

"Whee!"

B promptly raised his bloodied right arm into the sky and made a peace sign. Behind him appeared a gargantuan puff of smoke and out of it emerged Gyuki, the Eight-Tailed Ox. The children were all shocked by Gyuki's sudden appearance, bewildered by the sight of a Tailed Beast up close and in the flesh. One child in particular, however, was more concerned with Suigetsu allowing it:

"Dad… what the hell?! You can't win against something that big!"

Karin gently held her son's shoulders from behind and lowered her head beside his. "Relax, Karasu. Winning this match means _a lot_ to your dad. He wouldn't have accepted Killer B's terms if he didn't have a way of countering them."

"If you say so…"

Karasu bit his lip as he looked on, struggling to imagine any way his father could possibly take down an opponent Gyuki's size.

" **What do you want, B?** " Gyuki asked. He noticed the surroundings, then Sasuke's Susano'o nearby, then Suigetsu at his feet, and finally B's own arms covered in blood.

" **Your arms…** "

B pointed to Suigetsu with his left hand. "That boy needs some _karma!_ Blast him with a _Bijuudama!_ "

" **Alright… stand back, B. I've got this!** "

Gyuki began charging up the aforementioned Bijuudama and pointed his mouth down at Suigetsu. B ran out of sight and away from the blast radius, into the surrounding forest.

 _Without B to charge it for him, I've got some time._ Suigetsu thought as he prepared his counter attack, making some hand seals.

" _ **Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!**_ "

Upon shouting, Suigetsu pointed to the sky with his left hand. The water from the Falls of Truth, the pond at the base, and the river at the summit all followed Suigetsu's command, uniting to form a single stream of water with a dragon's head. It ascended until it reached the clouds where it proceeded to chase its own tail.

 _That's a good spot._

Suigetsu followed up with a finger gun to the sky, a water bullet leaving his left hand at speeds that not even Sasuke could track properly. In the next few seconds the sky began to grow dark, and everyone could hear the sound of thunder. The audience saw several birds fly away in a panic upon the advent of the thunderstorm.

Boruto gasped. "Lightning?! During the fight?! What are the odds of that?! And what about Uncle Jugo?! He might get struck!"

"He won't." Sasuke said with a confident grin. Then he made Susano'o brace itself for what was coming:

 _Becoming a copycat like Kakashi, huh?_

As Suigetsu stared up into Gyuki's mouth, the Bijuudama was nearing completion. With the anticipation building, Suigetsu drew Kiba once more and tapped the blades together over his head. Faster than anyone could blink all the lightning above shot down at the Kiba at once, united, and extended straight up into a single blade of white lightning half as long as Gyuki was tall. Suigetsu gently brought Kiba down and to his left side, the blade of lightning positioned as if it were sheathed and he was about to draw.

" _ **Now!**_ " Suigetsu and Gyuki roared in unison. Gyuki fired the Bijuudama straight down at Suigetsu and Suigetsu swung the blade of lightning upward. Before the Bijuudama could hit Suigetsu, the blade of lightning made contact and split the Bijuudama in two, one half spiralling toward Susano'o and the other bouncing back at Gyuki's shoulder.

Seeing the blast coming, Sasuke slashed at the Bijjudama fragment with the Totsuka Blade, safely keeping it from harming anyone inside by absorbing it. Meanwhile, Gyuki took the brunt of his own Bijuudama, and simultaneously, Jugo momentarily lost control of his flight but nonetheless managed to keep himself afloat.

 _Even I felt that one!_ Jugo thought as he saw Gyuki vanish in a puff of white smoke.

Karasu was left paralyzed with awe. "Dad, he… cut a _Bijuudama_ in half… He's so strong…"

"He has me to thank for that." Sasuke remarked. "Copying Kirin the way he did, just using super-heated _Water_ rather than _Fire_ to create that thunderstorm…"

"Hey, that's not all, Sasuke!" Karin objected. "The way he used the Kiba to target himself with lightning and use it like a sword reminded me an awful lot of Darui's _Lightning Rod Sabre!_ "

"No matter the case, your dad's got to be really strong to go mano-a-mano with a Tailed Beast and come out on top! You were all wrong about him!" Boruto said to Karasu.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…" Mitsuki interjected, "… This battle isn't over yet. Lord B is nowhere to be seen, and look at Big Brother now."

The blade of white lightning dissipated as the sky returned to its usual blue. Suigetsu sheathed Kiba once more and looked around himself for any signs of Killer B. Unfortunately, after taking one step, all of his muscles went numb and he started gasping for breath.

 _Repelling a Bijuudama really took its toll…_

He gritted his teeth, and with all his effort lifted his right hand in the direction of some footsteps he heard.

 _I barely have the strength to stand… I've only got one shot to make this work…_

At that moment, out came Killer B for everyone to see. All the wounds Suigetsu gave him previously were covered up, and most of the blood was gone.

"No… Killer B used the Bijuudama as an opportunity to patch himself up while Dad wasted his energy on Gyuki!" Karasu protested. "That's… not fair!"

Killer B began walking closer to Suigetsu, carefully assessing his condition as the leftovers of Suigetsu's technique poured down as steaming rain. Suigetsu was covered in scorch marks, but his stance made it clear that he wasn't about to give up, and indeed, Suigetsu shot a bullet of water at B the moment he was clearly in view.

The shot missed. Furthermore, the moment the bullet of water left Suigetsu's finger, he collapsed face-first into the dirt below.

B smirked. _His aim must be off; he's too weak to even cough. But that's not my business… cause I'm gonna win this!_

Jugo started to panic. He flew over to Susano'o while still keeping an eye on the battle, putting his back to the audience when he approached them. "I can't sense Suigetsu's chakra anymore! Do I stop the match, Sasuke? Karin?" he asked.

Karin calmly shook her head. "No."

"I concur." Sasuke added. "The battle's about to end anyway."

"But Dad is…! Dad's chakra is gone! He's going to die right this second if he doesn't get help!"

In that instant, Karasu's hair began glowing and several chains erupted from his abdomen, smacking his mother's hands away:

" _ **We need to save Dad right now! Screw the match!**_ "

With the rest of the audience bewildered and confused, Karasu shot himself out of Susano'o and tried to reach his father. Before he could get far, however, he felt himself being restrained and pulled back inside. Karasu tried fighting it, but no matter how hard he resisted, the binds around him wouldn't budge. Soon enough, he was right back in his mother's arms, and her warm embrace dissuaded Karasu from any more outbursts.

"We're not stopping the match. Because…"

Karin looking down into her son's eyes with a bright smile:

"… Your father's about to win."

Everyone was rendered quiet at Sasuke's and Karin's declaration. The silence was only broken by the fight that ensued, and as if on cue, they heard a blood-curdling scream:

" _ **YAOWCH!**_ "

B writhed in anguish as he fell to the ground face-first, unable to move even a muscle. He could see Suigetsu's body next to his, however, and it turned into a puddle once more. It travelled around B, connected with the shot that Suigetsu missed, and returned a solid, standing, _unharmed_ Suigetsu Hozuki. He walked up to B's barely conscious body and kneeled down, placing his right hand on Samehada's hilt.

"You _**like**_ that chakra I fed you, don't you, Samehada?" Suigetsu asked cheekily as he picked the sentient sword up from off Killer B's back. He then raised the sword in the air in triumph as the last of the rain fell and a rainbow took its place in the sky.

"What do you know? … Suigetsu really did win." Jugo said as he began his descent. "I still don't understand how, though…"

"We'll explain what happened later." Karin declared as she left Susano'o and launched herself to the battlefield with her _Adamantine Sealing Chains._ "Right now I have to heal Killer B up… and congratulate my husband!"

When Karin arrived at the site of the battle ahead of Jugo and the others, she found that B's arms' wounds opened back up. Moreover, when she flipped B's body face-up to have B bite her, she noticed that his entire torso and legs were covered in burn marks in the front.

"Looks like you didn't learn much from your encounter with Jashin, eh?" Karin remarked as she rolled up her right sleeve and brought her arm down to B's mouth.

"What'cha talking about, concerning that bout?" B asked. Then he bit her arm.

"You still have the same weakness now as you did then. You get cocky when it looks like you've won, and that leads to fatal mistakes. Fifteen years ago, you summoned Gyuki to the battle with Jashin instead of heeding Sasuke's warnings, and it got him killed and cost you an arm. And today, Suigetsu took advantage of that weakness to defeat you, making you _think_ he missed you."

"I don't follow." B replied as soon as Karin finished healing him. "The boy's spirit was _hollow._ "

Karin shook her head. "Right now you need rest. We'll explain it to you when you wake up."

"Very well, Lady in red… I will escort myself to bed…"

And with that, B fell sound asleep. Satisfied with B's condition, Karin stood up and approached Suigetsu, who had placed Samehada at his back where Kubikiribocho once was. When Karin reach her husband, she started to stomp her feet indignantly and yell:

"Damn it, Suigetsu! You made our son _**panic!**_ You know his sensing isn't good enough to detect you when you're like that yet!"

"It was the only thing I could do to win in that scenario!"

"Yeah, right!" Karin crossed her arms and looked away. "You had everything planned out the moment you sprouted those extra arms!"

"That's not entirely true! I wasn't planning on the Kaiser Fang having so much _recoil!_ I just set up a _back-up plan_ in case it didn't work out! And what happened to not getting angry today, huh?! You should be giving me a _victory fuck_ , not bitching me out for scaring the kids!"

"You know what…"

Karin looked back at Susano'o briefly, in the middle of deforming, and then faced Suigetsu once more, this time with a smile:

"You're right. I'm sorry."

"Now we're getting some-"

Suigetsu's attempt at speaking was suddenly interrupted by Karin's lips locking with his and her hands tightly caressing his cheeks.

 _I stand corrected; NOW we're getting somewhere!_

Suigetsu closed his eyes, reciprocated Karin's kiss, and held her body closer to his with one hand at the small of her back and the other at the back of her head.

Karin and Suigetsu held this position for several seconds, until at last Karin sensed Karasu and the rest approaching. She then broke away from the kiss, let go of Suigetsu's face, and relaxed her wrists on Suigetsu's shoulders. Karasu arrived just in time for Karin to break his parents' silence:

"That was the manliest, most brilliant display of ninjutsu I've ever witnessed, you _**total badass!**_ "

At that moment, Samehada began vibrating in place. Suigetsu was shocked by the reaction, but he was also relieved, for Samehada's vibrations were strangely relaxing.

Karin looked behind Suigetsu and toward the sword at his back. "Even Samehada agrees with me!"

"I still don't get it… How did you _**win**_ , Dad?!" Karasu asked.

Suigetsu looked past Karin's left shoulder to focus on his son. "It's pretty complicated, so you better pay attention, Karasu. First of all, you remember way back when I shot some lightning from Kiba into the Falls of Truth?" Karasu nodded. "Well, I shot some of my _chakra_ along with it, but it was probably a little too small for you to sense."

"I get it… When you sent the Water Dragon into the sky, your chakra became part of it, and it came down with the rain. But there's still more I don't get."

"My chakra coming down with the rain was really important. First of all, it let me detonate _all the hot water that rained on Killer B_. It was enough to give him simultaneous first degree burns all over his body, knocking him down for keeps. And since my chakra rained down on my body at the same time, it also let me shrug off the recoil to the Kaiser Fang by liquefying and solidifying again."

"How could you do that at all, though? You had no chakra whatsoever! I thought you were dead!"

"He sort of _was_ , Karasu." Karin interjected, turning her body back to look him in the eyes. "When Daddy made that last shot, he _shot his soul out of his body._ I knew that he must have still been around because I could sense his chakra in each individual raindrop out there. Since those tiny pieces of chakra were hitting Daddy's body, he could turn his body into water and back without being in it himself!"

"Wow…"

Karasu's eyes widened with wonder, but he quickly turned around, giving Sasuke a puzzled expression. "How did _you_ know Dad shot his soul out of his body, Uncle Sasuke?"

"Because of this."

Sasuke lifted his bangs with his hand to reveal his Rinnegan. "One of the Rinnegan's powers is to see disembodied spirits. When I saw that happening to your father, I knew right away what he was planning. And B confirmed it when he fell for Suigetsu's trap."

Karasu looked back over to his father. "Your trap, Dad?"

"Yeah… the placement of my final shot. I tricked him into thinking I was down for the count and made him lower his guard. If I was too close, then he would have been cautious and chose to stay in the woods and out of sight, and more importantly, _away from the rain_. And if it was too far away, then B would start thinking I missed _on purpose…_ which, of course, would be right on the mark. It's funny…"

"What's funny, Uncle Suigetsu?" asked Sarada.

"It's funny that B _of all people_ fell for my trick, since he was one of my _inspirations_ for it!"

"Hn." Sasuke let out a faint chuckle.

"Come to think of it, B _**did**_ trick us a similar way back then!" Karin recalled, adding to the laughter. Upon hearing Karin laugh, Jugo smiled, also fondly remembering the same event.

While Taka was reminiscing, however, Karasu started to cry.

Tenchi quickly came to his side. "Karasu-kun, what's wrong?!"

"It's just… it's just that I'm so _**weak!**_ You and Mitsuki are younger than I am and you're already Sages… Boruto's grades were way higher than mine… Sarada awakened the Sharingan… Even _my own little brother_ is in a different league than me! And to top it all off I got a front row seat to just how much Mom outclasses me… I was freaking out over Dad's apparent death when Mom knew exactly what was going on and believed in him all the way… I'll never be able to measure up to her… I won't be able to _**join**_ the Yatagarasu, much less take it over…"

 _What the hell, Karasu? If anyone feels weak here, it's_ _me…_ _I can't do anything remotely as awesome as what you pulled…_

Boruto crossed his arms and looked squarely at Karasu with scorn. Sasuke noticed this and placed his hand on Boruto's shoulder from behind, attracting his attention.

"Uncle Sasuke? What do you want?"

"I know what you're thinking, Boruto. You're not doing yourself any favours letting your jealousy fester. Tell Karasu how you really feel. That's the only thing you can do to save him… and yourself."

"Oh… Okay. I'll try."

Boruto nodded as Sasuke let him go. He walked up to Karasu, nervous, but asserted himself and went to punch Karasu in the face. Karasu saw it coming despite his sulking and caught Boruto's fist with his own hand. He began to stare at his teammate with bloodshot eyes:

"Why'd you try to punch me, Boruto?!"

Boruto looked down at Karasu's hand covering his fist, smirking all the while. "You just proved it for me. You're not weak. Remember those chains you used?!"

Karasu raised an eyebrow as his tears started drying. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything. My body just moved on its own when it looked like Dad was dead."

"But it's true, Karasu-kun!" Tenchi interjected. "Your hair started glowing and you used chains to break away from Lady Karin…"

"Once Papa teaches me how to share memories with the Sharingan I could show you if you don't believe it." Sarada added.

"I fail to understand how an _inbred mule_ like yourself could have done it, but for a brief second your chakra became very intense… stronger than any twelve-year-old has any _right_ to be, even." Mitsuki concluded as his Sage Mode expired.

"Really, guys? You all think I'm strong?"

All four of them smiled and nodded.

Karasu looked at his teammates, Tenchi, and Mitsuki with his eyes on the verge of tears once again, but this time for an entirely different reason. At that moment, Karin proceeded to walk past the children, kneel in front of her son, and hug him:

"In a way, you've surpassed me already, Karasu."

"How can that be? I'm still nothing compared to you…"

"But I didn't use my chains for the first time until I was _eighteen._ "

Karasu was speechless at Karin's remark, and his cheeks flushed as Karin's embrace tightened.

"You're stronger than I was at your age, that's for sure. If you keep improving at the rate you're going, you're bound to get stronger than me one day. I guarantee it."

"I've still got a long way to go…" Karasu said as he returned his mother's hug. "I can't sense with the same kind of detail you can, and I still have no idea how my chains work…"

"I'll teach you everything I can. That's part of my job as your mother, after all!"

"Yeah… Thanks Mom! I love you!"

"I love you too!"

Satisfied with Karasu's spirit restored, Karin let go of her son and directed her focus to Mitsuki. "As for you, Mitsuki… you said you didn't understand how my son could get so strong?"

"Yes, I did."

"Let me help you. It was Karasu's _love for his dad_ that made those chains come out. That 'conscience' that you look down upon is the _reason_ that Karasu's become as strong as he is."

"How strange…"

Mitsuki stroked his chin as he stared at Karasu in confusion. "I had been under the impression that power attracted followers and generated bonds. I mean, why else would the strongest ninja in the Hidden Leaf have the highest authority? … I had never considered the _reverse_ , that one's bonds could generate power. I will have to rethink my entire outlook on the world given this new discovery…"

Just then, the children, Sasuke, and Karin heard a scream nearby, and everyone's attention was diverted there:

" _ **YES!**_ "

The scream belonged to Tenten, who was standing before Kubikiribocho and Kiba, which Suigetsu left behind when he reformed during the final stage of the battle. "Two _Swords of the Mist_ right in front of me! Can I _**PLEASE**_ take one with me, Suigetsu?!"

"I don't exactly have the room for Samehada and Kubikiribocho at once… Okay, I'll let you become a member of the _Neo Swordsmen of the Mist_ and be Kubikiribocho's new wielder on _one condition…_ You give me those notes about the Shark Senjutsu School you promised!"

"You… you mean it?!"

"Sure."

Suigetsu put his hand out, expecting something be placed in it. After a second of inaction, Suigetsu began tapping his feet in impatience:

"So where's that scroll, Tenten? If you don't fork up your notes, you don't get my sword."

"Actually, we don't have the notes on us right now, Suigetsu." Jugo interjected. "They're inside Killer B's vacation home. We stayed there with him overnight."

Suigetsu's eye twitched. "Is that so?"

Everyone looked down at the unconscious Killer B, dumbfounded.

"Guess we have to wake him up and have him invite us in…" Konohamaru remarked.

[X-X-X]

So Team Konohamaru, the reunited Taka, Tenten, Tenchi, and Mitsuki woke Killer B, who showed them in to his quarters, where Tenten gave Suigetsu her and Jugo's information on the Shark Senjutsu School in exchange for Kubikiribocho. Everyone stuck around to enjoy a meal together, but afterwards Killer B saw the rest of the ensemble off as they departed for the Hidden Leaf Village. While Sasuke flew Boruto, Mitsuki, and Konohamaru on one hawk and Karin flew Sarada, Karasu, and Suigetsu on another, Jugo flew Tenten and Tenchi using his own wings.

They arrived back home the following evening. Once there, the party of eleven split into various directions…

[X-X-X]

At the Third Training Field, two juvenile sages were facing each other with Seals of Confrontation.

"Are you sure you want to do this _now?_ " Jugo asked them.

"Yeah. It's getting pretty late, you two." Tenten added. _That, and once you kids get to bed, I'll be able to practice with Kubikiribocho without any interruptions!_

"Yes." Tenchi and Mitsuki said in unison.

"Then you may begin… now!"

Jugo shot a small red smoke signal into the air to signal the beginning of the match.

 _Kimimaro, are you watching? My daughter made her first friends the other day, and is having her first battle with a rival in front of the Memorial Stone. Your name isn't engraved on there, but you're still a hero to me… how ironic that I fell in love with the teammate of one of your very last opponents. I also left Orochimaru's care and found my own path. You probably see that as a betrayal, but I'm happy all the same. When I finally die, I hope you'll still let me see you in the Pure World…_

[X-X-X]

Meanwhile, at the Hozuki residence…

"Welcome home, Dad!"

Kawashi opened the door for Suigetsu to come in. She instantly saw Samehada at his back and made a wide, gleeful smile. "You won! I knew you could do it!"

"How's Sangetsu?" Suigetsu asked, looking past Kawashi and into the house.

"Pretty good, but he went to sleep early… gets it from you. Say… where's Mom and Karasu?"

"Karasu's with his team reporting back to the Hokage, and Mom went with your Uncle Sasuke to relieve the sub of his duties."

At that point, Suigetsu smirked. "That reminds me. You were a _bad girl_ to Sarada and got your Yatagarasu membership suspended the other day."

Kawashi looked down in shame. "Still rubbing salt in the wound about that?"

"No, it's just… I have another job for you."

"Really?! What is it?!"

"This is just between you and me, so pipe down, alright?"

Kawashi silently nodded in response to her father.

"Okay, thing is, a _certain woman_ got a hold of a _certain sword_ without proving her worth first. I need you to test her. If she fails, then the sword belongs to _you_ , Kawashi."

"I see." Kawashi cracked her knuckles, eager. "What kind of test?"

"Use your imagination, but make it require good aim. That's the target's specialty, as well as yours. Beat her at her own game."

"Absolutely! The infidel will be crushed!"

Kawashi promptly ran off to bed, concocting a zany scheme.

"Now, I've got some notes to read." Suigetsu sighed with relief as he closed the door behind him.

 _Big Bro… I've done it. I took back the sword Nashiken stole from you. I let Chojuro keep Hiramekarei, but he deserved it. He even went all the way to Mizukage. Huh… Just thought of something. I used to be a notorious criminal, my main rival became a Kage, I married a medic with a nasty temper, and I had you, an older brother I've spent so long trying to avenge in my own way… My life's turned out pretty similar to a certain friend of mine's. Pretty fucking weird, right? Actually, you and his Big Bro both knew Kisame… I wonder if he's introduced you to each other._

[X-X-X]

At the Hokage's office…

"Welcome back. How was the mission?" Naruto asked Team Konohamaru, who stood at attention on the opposite side of his desk.

"There were a few close calls, but our client won in the end." said Konohamaru.

"So Uncle B lost…"

Naruto started slumping in his chair, disappointed, but quickly recovered his posture. "Still, that just means all of Suigetsu's hard work paid off! His determination is something I can respect! Anyway…" he changed his focus from Konohamaru down to the Genin standing just in front of him, "… the mission was to watch Suigetsu and Uncle B fight. What did you three learn from the experience?"

"I used my _Adamantine Sealing Chains_ for the first time!" said Karasu.

"Did you, now?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, and then shifted his gaze squarely on his son with a smirk:

"You know, Boruto, if you don't start taking your training seriously, Karasu's going to get stronger than you in no time."

Boruto smirked back. "I figured that out already, Dad. I'm going to train twice as hard as before! Maybe we could start training _together_ right after this meeting… You could even teach me the Rasengan!"

"That's… uh…"

Naruto flinched at the proposition. He looked at Boruto, then the remaining paperwork on his desk, then to Karasu and Sarada, then back to Boruto. Naruto sighed, nodded, then stood up and made six shadow clones:

"That's a great idea, Boruto! I'll finish my paperwork as fast as I can, and then let's meet up together back home and we can start your first lesson, okay?"

"I'll be waiting, Dad! It's a promise! Don't go back on your word, now!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Boruto turned around and ran out of the office.

Konohamaru crossed his arms and looked down in embarrassment. " _I_ could have taught him the Rasengan…"

"Don't sweat it, Konohamaru." Naruto walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Karasu and Sarada got to spend some quality time with their parents during the mission; it's only fair that Boruto gets to spend some time with his old man too! Besides, I'll be too busy to be there every step of the way, so I'm counting on you to teach him when I can't."

Konohamaru made a faint smile. "Understood, Big Bro."

"Excuse me, but there's something I wanted to ask you, Lord Seventh!" Sarada interjected.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, taking his hand off Konohamaru.

"I've started reading _Tale of a Gutsy Kunoichi_ , and I wanted to know why you chose the name of the protagonist the way you did."

"Figures you'd want to know that, huh…" Naruto made an embarrassed chuckle, "It just came about on a whim when I treated Karin to her first bowl of Ichiraku Ramen… Nothing special, really…"

"That's not true."

Sarada looked down at herself, smiling. Naruto replied with a smile of his own:

"Yeah… I guess it isn't."

[X-X-X]

At Yatagarasu Headquarters…

"What happened during our absence, Sai?" Sasuke asked with Karin beside him.

"Not much… it was remarkably quiet. However, we _did_ receive a case just an hour ago. A very serious one, at that."

Sai pulled a scroll out of his pocket and opened it on the desk.

"Let's see it." Sasuke said as he stepped forward and looked at the contents of the scroll. It read:

 _Dear Yatagarasu:_

 _As of this writing, an attempt has been made on my life. My personal bodyguards - which you've known since that fateful day fifteen years ago - were able to stop and apprehend the assailant, but before we could learn their motives, the assailant was silenced by an unknown third party that managed to escape. If you don't mind we humbly request that you look into this matter and find the mastermind behind the assassination attempt as quickly as possible._

 _Under normal circumstances I would not burden you with this dilemma, but times are dire in this country. My decision to abolish the current system of government and establish a democracy, rather than sire a new heir, has not been well-received by the country's nobles, and I fear any one of them may wish to kill me before the constitution is finalized and we hold our first election. If that were to happen, the country would be leaderless and enter a bloody civil war to fill the power vacuum. I trust you understand why the case must be solved quickly, and from the outside: ninja from my country's village may be bought out by the guilty party, and the longer the case goes unsolved, the more inevitable war becomes._

 _Fifteen years ago, we finally lifted the curse that plagued this country. Please assist me in ensuring another one does not befall us._

 _We need your help,_

 _Frost Daimyo_

"This _is_ serious…" Sasuke sombrely said. "It's a good thing we came back when we did."

"What do you have in mind?" Sai asked.

"Sai, you and I will respond to this letter immediately."

Sasuke turned around to face Karin. "As for you, Karin, select your team then go home and get some rest. You're leaving for the Land of Frost at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning."

"And we _just got back_ , too…"

Karin hunched her shoulders and sighed, but quickly straightened out her posture, put her hands on her hips, and smiled. "Still, it'll be nice seeing Byakko's team and Nodan again, and I _**am**_ the best woman for the job. You can count on me, Sasuke!"

"I always do. Now get going."

"Got it!"

Karin walked out the door, full of energy, her long red hair swaying back and forth as she walked at a brisk pace.

 _How many people am I going to have to say goodbye to? There's Suigetsu, Kawashi, Karasu, and Sangetsu for starters. Then Naruto and his family, and Jugo and his family… and Sasuke's family too. I can't believe just how huge my family's become. You were right, Dad. There's always room in your heart for a little more love._

Once Karin was out of sight, Sasuke sat down at his desk, took a pen and parchment out of a drawer, and placed them atop the desk to begin writing.

 _Stopping a civil war before it starts… that's what you and the village tried to do, Itachi. But this time, we're going to do it right. No one's going to be made a sacrifice. The world that you and Nagato dreamed of… we're very close. The world's progressed to the point that your beliefs and our parents' can co-exist peacefully and even symbiotically; the Yatagarasu is proof of that. I doubt that chaos and hatred will ever go away completely, but wherever they may strike, we'll be ready to put a stop to them. I intend to reunite with you, Father, Mother, and the rest of the clan eventually, but there's a lot I still have to live for. I've finally rediscovered what it means to be happy, and I'm going to hold onto it as long as I can._


End file.
